Tales of Danganronpa
by Blue The Writer
Summary: Sixteen heroes in the tales franchise suddenly find themselves locked in a school. A bear, named Monokuma, comes out and asks them if they want to play a game.
1. Prologue

Blue: This writing is going to be a little different from my own style of writing since I'm adopting to use they writing style of a Danganronpa game. If you don't know what that means, this story is going to be closer to the style of a play, but will still be have a narrative. This is both to make this more like Danganronpa and to make it a bit easier for me and my co-writer, Mirianetta, to work on this without worrying about our writing styles clashing.

Mirianetta: So enjoy this despair inducing crossover presented by the Despair Sisters.

Blue: Hey, don't give away who we are just yet.

* * *

 _Tales of Danganronpa_

 **Prologue: Welcome to Hell School Life**

Sorey felt his eyes flutter open, but it was soon replaced with a splitting headache. His hands instinctively went up to his head. His vision was still a bit blurry, but he was slowly becoming aware of his position.

He was sitting in a chair and was slumped over a small desk. Then he slowly started to make out some things. It was bright like the sun was out, but it just looked so fake. Sorey saw that he was in a small room that had several other small desks and chairs. On the wall in front of him was a green board with the words "Welcome" in chalk.

Where the windows should have been were covered in large metal slaps that completely blocked out whatever was behind it. There was no natural light at all and Sorey looked up to see that the light was coming from the ceiling. Could it be some kind of seraphic arte that was giving this weird lighting? But Sorey was more interested in what could be behind the metal sheets. It piqued Sorey's interests enough for him to stand up and walk over to them.

His steps were a bit uneven and he still felt like he had been hit in the head. He kept wondering where he was. He tried to recall the last thing he remembered, but that was a bit hazy. Just how did he even get here?

When he reached the metal slab, Sorey tried to see if he could move them so he could see what was behind them. But they wouldn't budge. The metal sheets were bolted onto the wall. Sorey gave the slab a tug, but still nothing. Maybe with seraphic artes…

That's when Sorey realized he had his seraphim friends tethered to him. But just as he was about talk to them, he realized they weren't with him. He couldn't feel their presence at all. "Mikleo, Lailah?" Sorey called out. "Edna?" But there was no response and he still couldn't sense any of them. What had happened to him and his friends? _Think Sorey,_ he told himself, _what's the last thing you remember?_

He started with something he remembered clearly, having Edna join them so they could make a bridge and reach the plague town. Sorey ran into an assassin that had a wind seraph with them. He formed the bridge and headed to Marlind. But there was so much malevolence, so they were going to work on purifying the town. Then...that was the last thing he remembered.

"Ugh," he heard a female voice moan.

"Lailah?" Sorey called out as he quickly spun around.

But he was very wrong. There was a woman sitting in the back of the room, Sorey was a bit embarrassed that he had failed to notice her, and she had been slumped over the desk like he had. She had long dark hair and she used her hand that was fully bandaged reached up to touch her head like she had a headache too. "Where…" the woman started to say and sounded like how Sorey felt when he woke up. The same thing must have happened to her too.

But before he could ask if she was okay, her eyes locked onto Sorey and she jumped up to get what was her fighting stance. She was wearing a tattered black coat and not much else. If she didn't look ready to fight him, Sorey would have been worried where his eyes went. "An exorcist," she growled.

Sorey quickly held his hands up, "No, no, I'm not, whatever you mean by exorcist," Sorey quickly defended. Sorey got a chill down his spine because she really looked like she wanted him dead.

The woman didn't lower her guard at that. But after just a brief moment she suddenly looked startled. "What the hell?" She looked at her bandaged hand in confusion and then looked at her other arm. Then she quickly looked down at her form. "What happened to my weapons?"

At that, Sorey happened to check his side. "Ah, my sword's gone too?" Sorey realized. He still felt compelled to feel around his belt. None of his gear was on him. "What the heck?"

"Hey, you have the same bracelet too," the woman pointed out as she held up her right arm to show a thick piece of metal that was half white and black around her wrist.

Sorey looked at his right arm and saw that he indeed had the same thing on his wrist. Examining it closer, he could see that there was a small red mark that sort of looked like it was in the shape of a lightning bolt. He tugged on the bracelet, but he couldn't even slide it even just a little bit. And there was no clasp or anything on it.

*Ding* *Dong* *Ding* *Dong*

A bell suddenly began to ring gently, yet it started both of them like they thought they were under attack. A voice followed the bells that seemed to echo throughout the building they were in. "Uh, testing, testing…*Ahem* This is an official announcement," a high-pitched voice announced. "Would everyone please report to the gym for the official welcoming ceremony. Attendance is mandatory." There was a click and the voice was gone.

"A welcoming ceremony?" Sorey wondered out loud. What were they going to be welcomed to?

"What are you exorcists planning?" The woman asked. Her question was directed at Sorey and she still looked like she wanted to fight.

Sorey held up his hands again. "I really don't understand why you keep calling me that, but I'm just as confused as you are about all of this," he told her. "Look, maybe we'll get some answers if we go to this 'welcoming ceremony'."

The woman eased up a bit, but her eyes didn't leave him. She was reading him and seeing if he was hiding anything from her. "Fine," she said bitterly. "But you're walking in front in case this is a trap."

Sorey let out a sigh. "Fine," he said as he made his way to the door. He might have been more worried about her staring daggers in his back if she had any weapons. As he opened the door, Sorey asked out loud, "But what's a gym anyway?" But when he saw out into the hall, that had the same strange lighting as the room they had been in, he saw a sign with an arrow pointed right with the word "Gym" painted on. "Well that's helpful," Sorey commented.

He quickly took in his surroundings and to his dismay, the windows were also covered up with the same metal plates. Sorey really hoped Mikleo and the others would be at this "gym" too. Maybe they could remember more about how they got here.

"Move," the woman said as she pushed him out into the hall. Sorey kept his balance and started walking in the direction the sign told him.

As the led, he looked back and said to the woman, "I'm Sorey, by the way."

He glanced back at her, making sure only to make contact with her eyes, and saw she had the same expression like she was waiting for him to lead her into some kind of trap.

"So?" She asked.

"Just, you know, being friendly," Sorey told her.

"Eyes up front," she snapped.

Sorey flinched and returned his attention to what was in front of him. _So much for that,_ he thought in defeat.

"Velvet Crowe," the woman suddenly said in a softer tone.

He glanced back to see a gentler side to the woman. But the moment she saw him looking, her fierce look return. And Sorey quickly returned his sights to where he was walking. With a small chuckle, Sorey said, "It's nice to meet you Velvet."

"Whatever," she muttered. And the two of them returned to silence as they walked down the hall to the gym.

Soon they found the two double doors that had had a sign with the word "Gym" above them. Sorey looked back at Velvet, but he was answered by her glaring at him.

So he opened the doors and she followed after him.

What they found to be the gym was a large enclosed area with a wooden floor, raised benches on either side, and a stage on the other side with a podium. And in the center were several other people standing around looking just a confused about the situation as Sorey and Velvet were.

"And that makes sixteen," a man's voice said.

Sorey quickly counted, and counting he and Velvet, there were a total of sixteen. Everyone looked to be of varying ages and a lot of them were dressed very bizardly.

"Someone better start explaining what the hell is going on," Velvet said in her same tone. She wasn't intimidated by the number of people. Sorey had to admire her tenacity.

"Wish we could tell you, but we're just as confused by all of this too," a guy with short blonde hair and a red cape said.

"Hey, they have bracelets too," Sorey commented to Velvet as he noticed. Every single one of them had the same exact bracelet as they did. He also noticed that no one was carrying weapons either.

"Doesn't mean they're all clueless," Velvet said.

"The only thing we do know is that we're supposed to introduce ourselves," a guy dressed in dark and had long dark purple hair said as he pointed over his shoulder toward the stage.

Above the stage was a banner that read, "All sixteen people must introduce themselves to advance." It was a bit of a strange request. But it would be good to know everyone's name.

The blonde with the red cape smile and said, "Well, we better start. I'm Cress Albane."

Most everyone agreed. So most started to form a circle so they could properly introduce themselves. Sorey and Velvet went.

Then a guy with long wild blonde hair went sounding way to excited considering his position. "I'm Stahn Aileron. It's nice to meet all of you."

"Hey, this isn't the time to be sounding all happy," a guy with white hair snapped.

Stahn scratched the back of his head. "S-sorry, but it's exciting meeting new people."

"Maybe under different circumstances," a guy around Sorey's age muttered. He had short dark hair and clothing.

"Oh, I'll go next," a guy dressed in red said in the same tone as Stahn. He seemed to have missed the seriousness of their situation. "I'm Lloyd Irving."

"Do the two of you know something the rest of us don't since you sound so chipper?" Velvet asked.

"Well no, I-" Lloyd started to say.

But the guy with long, braided light blue hair went on. "Let's just get on with this. We're wasting time. I'm Veigue Lungberg."

"Good point," the guy dressed in white pants and coat said. "I'm Asbel Lhant."

Standing next to him was a smaller girl with pink hair in a side ponytail. "Okay, I'll go. I'm Kanonno Earhart."

"I'm Kor Meteor," the guy next to her stated.

"That's your real name?" A woman with long blond hair said in a very curious sounding voice.

"Y-yeah," Kor muttered.

"You humans never cease to amaze me," the woman said with a bright smile.

"What's with you saying that?" the long dark haired guy asked.

"Maybe we should just stick with basic introductions," the guy standing next to the blond woman suggested with a nervous laugh. "I'm Jude Mathis."

"Very well, I'm Milla Maxwell," the blond woman said.

"Yuri Lowell," the long, dark haired man introduced.

The guy who had refused to circle up with the others was within arm's reach of Yuri. He sat with his legs crossed and his back to them. The young man had long wild red hair. "Why do I have to introduce myself to people like you?" He said angrily.

"He and I woke up in the same room together," Yuri said with a tired sigh. "Said his name was Luke fon something."

"Luke fon Fabre," Luke snapped angrily. "Get it right."

"I told you I'm not saying all that," Yuri said as he rolled his eyes. "Just Luke is fine." That angered Luke more that he actually jumped to his feet to tell Yuri to say his name right.

"Seriously, this is a waste of time, we need to figure out how to get the hell out of here," the white-haired guy complained.

"Come, what's the harm of giving us your name?" Asbel asked. "We've got to have something to call you."

"Fine, it's Senel Coolidge," he finally said as he folded his arms across his chest. "Is that everyone?"

"Um, no, I haven't," a young man with grey hair and black bangs said. "I'm Ludger Will Kresnik."

"Kresnik?" Milla asked.

"Y-yeah, don't you remember-" Ludger started to say.

But Senel was quick to interrupted. "So is that everyone?"

"No, that's only fifteen," Kanonno answered.

"Well who the hell is left? Speak up," Luke shouted.

Everyone glanced around to see who didn't give their name. And their eyes fell on a young man dressed in dark blue who was standing slightly away from the group. He had pale blonde hair and was looking incredibly nervous. When all eyes were on him, he jumped a bit and looked like a cornered animal. Looking away from them he tried to introduce himself. "I-I-I'm E-Emi-"

"Spit it out," Senel snapped.

The boy jumped more at that and went on stuttering like crazy.

"Calm down, it's not like anyone's going to eat you," Yuri said.

The boy took a deep breath, but with his eyes down casted and shoulders slumped over. "I'm Emil Castagnier," he finally said.

"Good, stand up straight next time when you introduce yourself," Yuri told him.

"S-sorry," Emil said, still not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Well it's nice to meet everyone," Stahn said with a happy grin.

"Again, maybe under different circumstances," Jude said.

"So what now?" Sorey asked.

"Yeah, we've already introduced ourselves," Kanonno said. "What do we do next?"

"Uphuhuh...Uphuhuhuhuhu" a high-pitched voice uniquely laughed. It seemed to echo through the gym. It was fairly distorted, but Sorey was positive that it was the same voice that had told them to go to the gym. "Ask, and you shall receive," the voice declared.

The last line came from up on the stage and that made all of them turn their heads toward it. They were able to catch in time to see what looked to be a teddy bear jump up from behind the podium and land on top of it. The teddy bear was a strange one with one side completely white while the other was black. Sorey quickly noticed that the bear's left eye was the same mark that was on all their bracelets. Then it startled all of them by standing up on the podium and speaking. "Hello everyone, and welcome."

"It talks," Luke shouted as he fell backwards.

Most of the others reacted the same as Luke. But a few people, like Velvet and Yuri, took on a defensive stance like they were going to fight despite being weaponless. "A monster?" Veigue asked in a sullen tone.

Sorey didn't have much visible reaction to the bear. It didn't look to be like any kind of normin. And he didn't want to say it was a hellion either because he could neither see nor sense any malevolence from it. But Sorey just had a feeling like this bear would be his enemy.

The bear pointed to himself, and in the same high pitched voice said, "Not monster, Monokuma."

"What the hell's a monokuma?" Lloyd asked.

For what looked like a stuffed animal, the bear's expression actually changed. Around his face was turning a bit red in anger. "That's my name you jackass," it said.

"So are you the one that brought us here?" Senel demanded as he was holding up his fist like he was a boxer.

And anger disappeared from Monokuma's face. "I guess you can say that," he answered. "But listen, if you want to know what's going on, then just shut the hell up and let me continue the welcoming ceremony." Monokuma cleared his throat before he continued. "Welcome everyone to the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy. And before anyone can ask, yes, this is a school. And I know a few of you are too old to be attending high school. Don't worry, you're not here for education, betterment, or any of that useless crap."

They were in a school, but they weren't here for traditional reasons? Sorey had always wanted to attend school, but he had a feeling he was soon going to regret that wish. Sorey glanced around and saw that everyone seemed as uneasy as Sorey was about why they were there.

"So why are we all here?" Milla asked.

"What else, each and everyone one of you has been carefully selected to participate in the wonderful killing game."

Sorey just blinked at Monokuma. He couldn't have heard right. What did he mean by "killing game?"

"W-what the hell are you talking about?" Kor exclaimed. Several others were just as freaked out. But there were a few others that remained calm.

Monokuma tilted his head to the side. "It's exactly what it sounds like, stone boy. It's a game were one of you will kill someone in this room and try to get away with murder."

"No way," Kanonno shouted. "There's no way someone would kill someone in cold blood for something like a game."

Though Monokuma's left side seemed to be a permanent smile bearing his teeth, there was something about his right side that made it look like he was grinning. "But can you really say that? There are some here who have already killed people."

A chill ran down Sorey's spine at that. In this room there were already killers? He quickly scanned the area, but he couldn't see or sense any malevolence. Just what was going on?

The bear cleared his throat again. "Now let me explain the rules of this killing game. The rules are super important so listen up. Now how this will work is-" But he was interrupted by Senel.

"This is stupid, I'm leaving," the white haired young man said as he started walking out of the gym.

"Like I'm going to do anything a teddy bear says," Luke said as he followed Senel

Monokuma's face turned red again. "The first rule should be, don't interrupt the headmaster," he said angrily.

A couple of others started to follow Senel, and Sorey had even take a step go with them. But then Monokuma composed himself to say, "Sure verify it for yourself. But there's no way out."

He said that, but no one really seemed to believe it. There was always a way out. At least, that's what they all believed at the time.

A couple hours later

Sorey stood in front of what was supposed to be the main entrance to this school. On the archway was a sign that said Hope's Peak Academy. Sorey imagined that the entrance was once double doors and probably pretty grand since the rest of the school looked very nice minus the fact that all the windows were sealed with the same metal plates.

Where the doors should have been were covered in the same metal plate as the windows. Senel was helplessly punching at the metal while Velvet, Yuri, and Asbel were trying to get the bolts off. But nothing gave. Sorey had been examining the walls in case there were any kind of secrets. However he found nothing. These weren't anything like the ruins he explored. There had always been a way out when he and Mikleo had been trapped in ruins.

"Damn it, these bolts have been melted down," Yuri said bitterly as he gave up. Velvet and Asbel weren't far behind.

Just then Cress, Jude, and Milla came back from checking some of the classrooms. "All the windows are sealed," Milla reported.

"No luck here either?" Cress asked.

"We better hope the others found something," Asbel told them.

"I don't understand," Senel started to muttered as he weakly kept punching at the metal sheet. "Why won't it work? It should be working," he asked out loud. The punches he was leaving blood behind.

Jude ran up to him. "Senel, you're hurting yourself," he shouted and tried to grab Senel's arms to make him stop.

But Senel just shoved him and made Jude fall to the ground. Yuri and Asbel were quick to rush over and grabbed Senel just in case he did something drastic given their situation. "I can use iron eres, why won't it work," Senel kept going on. He weakly fought against Yuri and Asbel.

"I don't know what that is, but just calm down," Yuri told him firmly.

That seemed to trigger Senel as he was able to struggle out of their hold. "I have to get out of here," Senel shouted.

"Senel were going to get out," Sorey tried to tell him.

"He's right friend," Cress went on. "You're not the only one who needs to get out. I'm worried about my friends. And I'm sure the others have their own reasons for needing out. Our goals are the same."

Senel still had this desperate look on his face, but it was enough that Yuri and Asbel let go of him.

"There's sixteen of us here," Asbel started to point out, "I'm sure we'll be able to figure a way out of here."

While Senel didn't look too convinced, he did calm down enough to cooperate. He wouldn't look anyone in the eyes and he kept his fists clenched.

"You should at least wait to hear what the others have to say before jumping to conclusions," Yuri told him.

Senel didn't say anything. Jude approached him and said he could heal his wounds. Still not saying anything, Senel held his hands out and Jude's hovered over them to start healing them. Sorey made a mental note to ask Jude about his healing artes. He had no idea a human could use them.

But just then the group that had been checking the gym to see if there was anything else came to the entrance. Stahn, Kanonno, Emil, and Kor had the same look as the rest of them.

"We didn't find a single thing in the gym," Stahn said. "And that black and white door at the end of the hall wouldn't open up."

"Yeah, we even looked behind that podium where Monokuma came from and there wasn't so much as a trap door or anything," Kanonno reported looking disappointed.

"S-sorry," Emil said with a downcast look.

"It's not like it's your fault," Cress tried to reassure.

But that only made Emil more sheepish. "Sorry," he repeated.

Yuri groaned a bit. "So that Monokuma thing was just waiting behind that podium for us like some creep?"

"He just sat there and laughed at us as we searched the gym," Kor said in frustration. "He even gave us suggestions that lead to nothing."

"Let's just go check on Lloyd's group to see if they've found anything further down the hall," Sorey suggested so they could keep moving.

They all agreed, but then Jude suddenly said, "This is bad."

"What's wrong Jude?" Milla quickly asked.

Jude held up his own hands and looked at them. "My healing artes aren't working," he reported. He suddenly had the same desperate look as Senel. Senel said he had some kind of power that didn't work and now Jude's didn't either. They were supposedly trapped and some couldn't use their power. Their situation just kept getting more stressful by the second.

"Well of course they aren't going to work, it wouldn't be a fun killing game if you could save people," a high-pitched voice said behind them. They all quickly turned and, to their utter frustration, it was Monokuma.

The anger that Senel had earlier returned and he nearly pushed Jude out of the way again. "What the hell did you do to us?" He demanded.

Sorey was sure Senel was about to throw a punch at the bear. But Monokuma just laughed. "Let's go meet with the others, I hate explaining things twice," he said as he started walking down the hall toward the others.

None of them wanted to go with Monokuma, but there really was no other choice unless they wanted to keep punching at the metal door in vain. Maybe if they heard more about the rules of this "killing game" they were supposed to play they could figure out a way to get out. They also needed to know what he did to them. Sorey had tried to call out to his seraphim friends and had gotten nothing. He hoped he could at least get a clue from Monokuma about what happened to them.

Sorey hadn't seen what was down the other end of the hall. But it was just around the corner that they saw the others. And just before they rounded it, they could all hear shouting and they all knew it was Luke. "Damn it, I said open up,"

It was quickly followed with what sounded like Lloyd's voice shouting, "Luke, you're not helping."

When they came around they saw that Luke was kicking at the gate that was blocking them from going further down the hallway while Lloyd knelt on the ground and looked to be trying to unlock it. Vegiue was just a little ways from them looking like he had a headache. Sorey wondered how long Lloyd and Luke must have been bickering with one another.

Hearing them approach, Lloyd and the others turned their attention to them. But Luke's eyes fell on Monokuma. "What the hell is he doing here?" Luke demanded as he pointed at the bear.

"Monokuma has some explaining to do. Let's at least hear it out," Kanonno said.

"I suppose if we know more we can assess the situation better," Vegiue agreed.

"Good, we're all on the same page," Monokuma said as he walked up to the gate blocking their way. "Let's talk over some food, you all must be famished after all your running around punching things," Monokuma said with a chuckle. Then the bear threw open his arms in front of the gate and shouted, "Open sesame."

As soon as Monokuma said that, a soft screeching noise started and the gate started rising up into the ceiling. Sorey was a startled. Monokuma didn't even have to touch it. He looked along the walls to see if there was any kind of mechanism that would explain it. But there was none, which meant that it was behind the walls.

"Hey, why did it move for you?" Luke shouted.

"Obviously because I had the remote," Monokuma answered. "Anyway, follow me and I can show you to where you all will be staying."

The bear started waddling down the hall and several of them gave each other anxious looks. If Monokuma wanted them to play in this killing game, were they heading to some sort of death arena? When they go down this hall, would they have no choice but to partake in the killing game?

Sorey took a big breath to steady himself and was the first one to started following Monokuma. He had to keep telling himself that there could be a way out or even a clue as to why they were here in the first place. The only way they could ever hope to escape was to move forward.

The others quickly followed suit and it wasn't long until they reached the new area. But it looked no different from the other areas. Fake sunlight, plain white walls and floors, and any windows were covered by the metal plates. But there was an open down on the side that had the words, "Cafeteria" over it, some stairs that had the same metal gate blocking it, and another long hallway at the end that Sorey could see had a lot of doors down it.

Monokuma twirled around to face them. "Alright then. This is the dorm area. Each one of you has been assigned you're very own room. The rooms are all identical and each have their very own bathroom."

"Just tell us what's going on already?" Velvet actually said in a threatening way.

"Geeze, alright," Monokuma said sounding a bit annoyed. He put his arms around his back and started explaining. "So a couple of you may have already noticed that your powers don't work. Well it's all thanks to those bracelets you're wearing. They're completely blocking mana or eleth or whatever the hell your power comes from."

Everyone looked down at black bracelets. Some like Yuri just looked a bit annoyed, while others like Senel and Velvet looked desperate to get the bracelet off. Was this thing keeping Sorey from seeing Mikleo and the others?

"What's the point in these, some of us don't even have powers?" Kanonno asked.

"Well that's to make sure you all enter this game on even terms," Monokuma pointed out. "It'd be no fun with an obvious op character taking out a completely average main character. There are a few of you who do have super powers."

As Sorey looked at everyone to see that some of them were giving each other weary looks. It hit Sorey that it wasn't just to seal powers. It was to bred distrust among them. They were in a killing game and they had no idea what abilities or strengths the other has.

"This is a killing game, right? So do you want us to just get into some kind of brawl right now?" Velvet asked with the same dark expression.

"Velvet!" Sorey exclaimed. But he couldn't get any other words out when Velvet looked back and gave him such a dark look.

Monokuma cocked his head to the side. "Loving the enthusiasm. Don't get me wrong, a battle royal among you all would be fun, but it'd end too soon. Now listen to the rules of the killing game."

The bear straightened up and cleared his throat. Sorey felt his stomach churn as they thought about what he has been trapped in. "The main point in the killing game is to get away with murder."

"G-get away with murder…" Emil trailed on. He was visibly shaking.

"Yep," Monokuma said in too happy a tone. "The highlight in any killing game, other than the suspense of who will be killed next, is the class trial."

"I see," Jude muttered. "You don't want bloodshed, but for someone to commit the perfect crime and to get away with it."

"Man, they don't call you the honor student for nothing," Monokuma said as he laughed. "When someone is killed, I will allow a certain amount of time to investigate. Then we will have a class trail. There you all will debate on who done it and vote on who the blacken, a.k.a the murderer, is. If you all vote correctly, only the blacken will be punished. But if you all get it wrong, then I will punish everyone besides the blacken, and only he or she will be allowed to 'graduate' and leave Hope's Peak Academy."

"Just to clarify," Yuri started to say, "when you mean punishment, you mean-"

And Monokuma finished. "Execution of course."

"But that means if we play this stupid game, then only one of us will survive," Asbel quickly pointed.

"Well if it gets down to two or three people, the game would be over. They'd be no point in playing any more. Look on the bright side," Monokuma said as he started laughing.

Only three out of sixteen of them could possibly survive? No, regardless, this was all wrong. How could Monokuma not have any malevolence? This was evil. Whoever the mastermind behind bringing them here to do this horrible game, Sorey was going to stop them.

But before he could make this declaration, Velvet grabbed Monokuma and held him up in the air. "I have a better idea," she said in that same dark voice. "I make you tell use how we get out of here and we leave."

"Or what?" Monokuma asked.

"Or I'll eat you," Velvet threatened.

None of them had time to react to Velvet's threat. Because Monokuma gave his unique laugh again. "Uphuhuh. I'd like to see you try after I've sealed your powers, deamon lady," he said after he laughed.

Monokuma wasn't fazed in the slightest by Velvet. Sorey had a sense of dread. But he honestly wasn't sure what it was from; Velvet's threatening aura or Monokuma's nonchalant attitude to it.

"Oh yeah," Monokuma said as he seemed to just remember something. It was followed by a steady beeping sound. "There are school rules that will result in punishment if broken, and one of them is not to harm the headmaster." The beeping grew louder and faster.

"Velvet, throw it away," Ludger suddenly shouted. "Now," he quickly added with more urgency.

Velvet did just that. She threw Monokuma away from them all. When he was thrown, Monokuma just blew up. Several of them just gave out startled gasps and screamed in surprise. Velvet had been just a few seconds away from blowing up with Monokuma. And she now looked a bit sick realizing that.

"I'll let this one go as a warning," the voice of Monokuma said from behind them. More startled gasps came as they turned around and saw that Monokuma was now behind them like nothing happened. But there was still the charred remains from where he exploded. "But next time someone attacks me, they will be getting punished," Monokuma said as his face turned red and he even extended his claws.

"No fair. You can't die," Lloyd said.

"Regardless of what you all had been at home," the bear said as he ignored Lloyd, "you all are weak and powerless humans now. And I am the god of this world. Anymore questions?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. He had a defiant look in his eyes. "Why us?"

"Each of you were carefully selected to participate because, in your worlds, you are considered heroes. So wouldn't it be interesting to see how far we can push you all until you break? But damn, a bit sexist aren't we, only three girls are considered main character heroes?"

 _Heroes?_ Sorey wondered. All of them were considered heroes? But if they were heroes, then how did they let this happen? But there was also the bright side to this. If everyone here was a hero, then there was hope yet they could stop Monokuma and escape out of here alive.

 _Prologue End: Welcome to Hell School Life_

 _Contestants Remaining: 16_

* * *

 **Blue:** Hey guys I hope this story caught your attention and you're interested to know more. For those that don't know about Danganronpa, there will be free time conversation Sorey will be having and I'm going to let you all chose who Sorey talks in those events. Just let me know who you wish for me to focus on. See ya next time!


	2. Chapter 1

Read, review, enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Killing Game Starts. Goodbye Trust

"Ahh, this is so stupid," Luke shouted as he threw his e-handbook on the table in frustration.

They were all in the cafeteria eating food that Monokuma prepared. At first no one wanted to touch food prepared by the bear. But Cress pointed out that it was a good bet that the food was safe. Monokuma wanted them to kill each other after all.

So while they ate, Monokuma handed out devices the size of their hand, calling them e-handbooks. But most of them had no clue how to work them. Monokuma soon got frustrated trying to teach, "backwoods bumkins" technology and just left. Thankfully Ludger and Kanonno had no trouble understanding how to use them and taught the others. Most of them were soon able to pick up how to use them. But Stahn, Lloyd, Luke, and even Sorey had a hard time understanding it. In Sorey's defence, he stayed amazed that just a small thing could hold some much information and functions that he failed to listen to Kanonno telling him how to get to the map of the school.

"Look, let's just go back to going over the rules the damn teddy bear placed on us," Yuri said as moved his finger across the e-handbook to get to the rules that were listed.

"Why?" Luke demanded. "Monokuma is the bad guy, why should we even listen to him?"

"Because, if we wish to escape, we need to know our boundaries and how far we can push," Cress explained.

"Right, so let's go over the rules Monokuma set up," Jude said as he started reading them off.

Sorey tried to get to where he could follow along, but couldn't find the rules. He was touching the screen and nothing was happening. Lloyd sat next to him and had long since given up on learning about the e-handbook. He now sat with his head propped up by his hands on the table with the e-handbook in front of him. Suddenly a hand reached over and pushed something that got him immediately to the rules. Yuri was sitting next to him and didn't show kind of reaction from helping Sorey. For now, Sorey read the rules;

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school.  
Rule #2: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.  
Rule #3: Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.

Rule #4: Night Time is from 10PM to 7AM. During those hours, the cafeteria and gym are closed.  
Rule #5: Your e-handbooks are very important items. Make sure you do not damage them or lend them to anyone else.

Rule #6: When a murder is committed in the academy, a class trial will be conducted. Participation in this trial is mandatory for all surviving students.  
Rule #7: A body discovery announcement will occur when three or more students discover a body.  
Rule #8: If the killer (hereinafter referred to as "the blackened") is correctly identified during the class trial, only the blackened will be punished for their crime.  
Rule #9: If the blackened cannot be identified, or if an incorrect student is identified as the blackened, all students except the blackened will be punished for the crime.  
Rule #10: If the blackened survives the class trial, they are declared the winner. At which point, they will graduate from the Ultimate Academy and re-enter the outside world.  
Rule #11: If innocent students (hereinafter referred to as "the spotless") continue to survive class trials, the killing game will continue until only two or three students remain.  
Rule #12: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game."  
Rule #13: Violators of these rules will be exterminated.  
Rule #14: The headmaster may add additional regulations to this list at any time.

"So there may be more," Kor groaned as his head dropped to the table after Jude read the last rule.

"It's probably so Monokuma could make sure he can control us," Milla summed up.

"But nowhere in the rules does it say we have to kill anyone," Asbel pointed out.

"Yeah, it only says what would happen if a murder does happen," Sorey agreed.

"Does that mean we don't have to kill anyone?" Stahn asked.

"There are no time limits or penalties for not participating in the killing game," Veigue said.

"We only have to participate in the 'class trial' right?" Lloyd asked, still trying to wrap his head around everything.

"So this stupid game won't ever start," Luke started to say and wore the first real genuine smile they've seen from him.

Sorey felt a bit relieved. They could stay in control of the killing game the whole time by choosing not to play. If they all agreed to a truce then-

"The killing game will happen, eventually," Yuri suddenly said which startled everyone.

"Yuri, what are you saying?" Sorey asked in disbelief. Could Yuri already be thinking about starting the killing game.

But Yuri held up his hand to keep everyone from jumping to the same conclusion Sorey had. "This whole thing was designed to naturally make us turn against one another," he explained. "We're stuck with people we don't know, with no way of getting out or to even see outside, and I'm pretty certain there are a few people in here who are desperate enough to do anything if it means getting out."

There were a few anxious glances around the table. Sorey looked from Velvet to Senel who kept quiet as people gave them the same anxious look.

"Not to mention that Monokuma thing most likely won't let us live peaceful lives here," Milla added.

"You're saying he's going to give us motives to kill each other," Ludger seemed asked, but sounded like he already knew the answer to it.

"Look, I'm just trying to be realistic here," Yuri explained. "If we don't mentally prepare ourselves, we're going to go mad and do drastic things."

"Then what should we do so no one has to die?" Kanonno asked with her head hung low.

Yuri didn't have an answer for that. But Yuri did have point. Everything was pitted against them to to drive them to kill one another. At this moment, Sorey couldn't even imagined a situation where he could kill someone. But Monokuma had this confidence that they would kill one another. And that made him afraid of what Monokuma had planned for them.

But I'm the shepherd, Sorey had to tell himself. It was his duty to save people and not give in to malevance. He absolutely would not kill anyone. If did, how could he face his friends, Mikleo, or Gramps? Not to mention, Mikleo and the others might still be tethered to him. If he gave in and murdered someone for his own selfish desires then they would be at risk to turning into dragons. He couldn't let that happen.

"I'm going to get all of us out of here," Sorey finally declared. But Sorey hadn't fully realized that he had said that out loud. He had even stood up and slammed his hands down on the table. And everyone was looking at him.

He got a little embarrassed by his outburst. Then Stahn suddenly asked, "How do you plan to do that?" He wasn't being condescending or anything. He generally wanted to know what Sorey had in mind.

"I, uh…" Sorey started to say. But he couldn't even come up with a decent idea.

"Playing the game is always an option," Velvet suddenly said.

Everyone grew tense at that and whatever relaxed atmosphere had been was immediately gone. Especially with how serious Velvet looked. She had such a cold look. She really looked like she was serious about killing someone.

"Hey, hey, you're not seriously thinking about killing someone, are you?" Lloyd asked as he stood up from his seat.

"I am," she said bluntly. "I already escaped one hellhole by any means necessary. I won't hesitate to do it again."

"But why?" Sorey asked. What could be so important to her that she would be willing to kill someone for.

"It's just as Yuri said, I'm one of the people who are desperate enough to get out of here," Velvet said as she got up and walked around the table to leave.

"Velvet," Sorey started to call out. He was going to try and stop her before she did anything drastic.

But someone caught him by his mantle and tugged him back to the table. It was Yuri still in his seat. "Just let her go," he told Sorey.

"But what if Velvet dose something?" Sorey asked. He couldn't let anyone die.

"Look, we just need to make sure none of us are alone with her," Yuri said calmly. In fact, Sorey felt admiration and bit of jealousy at how calm Yuri had been this whole time. "She probably feels like she's cornered, so she'll lash out. Give her some time to cool her head and she might be able to see things better."

Sorey still felt a bit uneasy. But he stayed put and gave one last look at where Velvet left. Yuri somehow knew that Sorey wouldn't hurry after Velvet and let go of Sorey's cloak.

"It's been a long day," Jude started to say. "What does everyone say to calling it a day?"

"It is less than an hour until night time," Asbel said with a sigh. They all had similar moods. There was no way any of them would be able to properly sleep under these circumstances.

"Let's all meet back here as soon as the cafeteria opens up in the morning and start searching for more ways to get out?" Cress said with a smile. Sorey wondered if he was that optimistic or if he was just doing that for everyone else's benefit.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Milla said.

"For everyone's own safety, I'd say we all just go straight to our rooms and don't come out until morning," Cress said.

Everyone thought that sounded like a good idea and everyone started leaving the cafeteria.

/~/~/

There was still plenty of time before nighttime began. Maybe Sorey should talk with some of the others.

Free Time

For some strange reason, Sorey felt like he needed to talk with Velvet.

The two of them were silent for the longest time. Sorey really wasn't sure what he should say. She was pretty intimidating and seemed a little scary. But he couldn't just leave her be like Yuri said. She just seemed to so-

"What do you want?" Velvet suddenly asked which startled Sorey since he was thinking about what he should say to her.

"Oh, well...I just figured we'd talk for a bit," Sorey said. He didn't want to say he was worried about her. She was probably get more mad at hearing something like that.

"What's the point? In the end we're just going to kill each other," she said with a shrug. It was startling to see how calm she was in this whole thing.

"It's not like we have to," Sorey tried to defend.

"I must be nice to be so simple," Velvet said as she rolled her eyes.

"What?" Sorey asked sounding completely confused.

"You're clearly not worried even being in the same room as someone whose made it pretty clear that she would do anything to get out. Do you not have a care in the world or even want to get out?"

Sorey felt his hands make a fist. "I have things I need to do and people who are counting on me. So I need get out of here too."

"Good for you, now leave me alone," Velvet said with a shrug before walking away.

Sorey was taken aback by her her sudden exit. He wished he could have talked with her some more. He was starting to get an understanding about Velvet. She must have been lonely even before she got to this place. Velvet, what happened to you before you were brought here.

Sorey has competed one out of four friendship fragments with Velvet.

/~/~/

There was still a little more time left before nighttime.

Freetime

Sorey thought he should talk with Cress since he hadn't had much of a chance to talk with him yet. "Hey Cress," Sorey said.

"Oh Sorey, is there anything on your mind?" Cress asked.

"Oh, nothing like that, I just wanted to say that you really took charge today. You seem like you could make a good leader," Sorey told him.

Cress suddenly looked down. "Maybe not, I just want out of here as soon as possible. I was on an important mission with my comrades and my good friend is waiting for me to get back in time."

"I know what you mean," Sorey said as he started feeling the same as Cress. "My friends and I were in the middle of something important too. And if I'm not there, I'm really worried that my friends are in danger." Sorey just realized something. They had been in the middle of a town filled with malevance and and he was his seraphim friends vessel. Would they be okay? What if-

Sorey couldn't linger on those thoughts. "I'm sure they're doing fine without me," he tried to reassure himself.

Cress attempted in a smile. "That's what we need to remind ourselves. I have to believe that my friend Chester is okay. If I don't, I might do something I'll regret."

"You're right," Sorey agreed. "If I do what Monokuma says then I won't be able to face my friends ever again." If he killed someone, he'd no doubt be a helion. Then he would never be able to be with his friends again or even go home. He'd be a danger to them. "So that's not even an option for me."

"Sorey, I'm glad we're of the same mindset," Cress said. "We should meet to talk about our friends some more. Maybe that will help hold us accountable."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Sorey said. It'd be good to talk about his friends with someone. He hoped Cress could be added to his friends.

Sorey has completed one out of four friendship fragments with Cress.

/~/~/

Sorey woke up with a jolt whenever he heard the sound of bells ringing. Then it was followed by Monokuma's voice.

"Good morning everyone," Monokuma's voice said through the speakers in a way too positive voice. "Let's have another wonderful day to play the killing game. Let's get to plotting!"

The sound of the speakers turning off made Sorey give a defeated sigh. So it wasn't all a dream, he thought bitterly. He had hoped this was all just a bad dream. But he was still here and supposed to play this stupid killing game.

"Mikleo," Sorey called out in hopes he'd get a response from any of his seraphim friends. But there was only silence. Sorey still clinged to some kind of hope that his friends were with him and it was just the stupid bracelet that blocked his resonance or something. He needed someone he could trust wholeheartedly. He was sure if he met any one of these people any other time, they could have gotten along or become friends. But it was just like Yuri said the day before. Their situation was designed to make them doubt one another.

He shouldn't be wishing for any of his friends to be in this situation with him, but he did. Sorey didn't want to be alone with no one to fully trust.

Then he quickly slapped his cheeks. Enough, I'm the Shepherd, he told himself. I have to stay level headed if I want to save everyone. Yes, Monokuma said it himself. They were heroes. So he intended to live up to that claim even though he had done nothing to earn the title. For all he knew that was just some cruel joke of Monokuma's.

That's why he planned to beat Monokuma and escape with everyone.

But to do that, he would need everyone else's help. So he quickly got ready so he could meet with the others in the cafeteria like they promised.

Sorey's room was the second one on the right side as you entered the dorm hallway. The first room, and his neighbor, was Velvet's. Each room had name plates and even the e-handbook's map labeled each room. He stopped briefly in front of her room. She hadn't heard about them meeting in the morning and he wondered if he should let her know. He was about the raise his hand to knock.

But he stopped when he thought how angry she left last night and started walking away toward the cafeteria. Sorey entered the room when about half of the others already there.

"Morning, Sorey," Kanonno greeted when he walked in. Jude, Milla, Yuri, Luke, Veigue, Asbel, and Emil were already at the table eating breakfast.

"Morning," he replied as he walked over to join them. There was already plates set for them. Sorey wondered if Monokuma prepared the food for them. If so, Sorey really didn't feel like eating what the bear made for them.

Everyone looked pretty tired. They must have woken up similar to Sorey with feeling despair over the fact they were still here.

Suddenly Luke jumped up and said, "Someone's got to come save us soon, right?" Sorey sure hoped that was the case. But…

"But where is here?" Asbel asked out loud.

"Well surely we couldn't be too far from-" Jude started to speculate, but Yuri interrupted.

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that. I talked with Cress some last night and there are several things that don't add up."

"Same," Asbel pointed out. "I talked with some people last night and compared notes with Yuri this morning. Nothing about our homes add up."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luke asked.

"What's the name of your hometown?" Yuri asked Luke.

Luke was a little taken aback, but answered, "Baticul."

"I've never heard of that town, has anyone else?" Yuri asked the rest of them. Everyone else shook their heads at that.

To which Luke slammed his hands on the table, making all plates shake. "What do you mean you've never heard of it?" He asked in a bitter tone. "It's the imperial city of Kimlasca."

"And I've never heard of that either," Asbel said. "I'm from Lhant, anyone heard of that town?"

It dawned on Sorey what Yuri and Asbel may have been hinting. But it was Milla who said it outloud first. "Are you suggesting we're all from different worlds?"

"Worlds, time. I'm pretty sure we're all not from the same place," Yuri speculated.

"Dimensions could be another possibility," Milla muttered.

"S-so if this is a different world…" Emil started to say but had to pause briefly. It was like he was afraid of being right. "Does that mean Monokuma is a god like he said?"

There was no response to that because they all knew that if that was true, then escaped seemed closer to imposible.

Suddenly they heard a loud yawn. It was from Lloyd who was just walking in the room looking like he just woke up. "Sorry, I over slept a bit," Lloyd apologized sleepily.

He was quickly followed by the sound of someone running in. Ludger soon appeared behind Lloyd also looking like he just jumped out of bed. "I overslept," Ludger said as he was catching his breath.

"Maybe we should wait until everyone else shows up to continue this conversation," Sorey suggested.

Several people agreed and even added they'd all think better with full stomachs.

/~/~/

One by one, everyone else showed up except for Velvet, Cress, and Stahn. Everyone seemed to assume Cress and Stahn were probably still asleep. But they were more worried about Velvet. Though she didn't know they were going to meet, Sorey thought for sure she would have at least come in to eat breakfast.

"Senel, are your hands still hurting from yesterday?" Jude suddenly asked Senel. He had been rubbing his hands together like they had been hurting throughout breakfast.

"It's fine," Senel snapped. "I'm just not used to hitting things without using iron eres."

Iron eres...Sorey wondered. Senel said the same thing yesterday. But he still had no idea what that even meant. A couple others also named things and terms that Sorey had no clue about. It was starting to become easier to believe Yuri and Asbel's theory that they were all from different times or worlds.

"I may not be able to use my healing artes," Jude kept on going, "but there is a nurses office with some medical supplies I could use."

"Geez, you're really annoying," Senel said as he got up like he was trying to get away from Jude. But he didn't walk away. He just looked at the others and said, "So are we going to search for a way out again?"

"Well it's not like there's much more we could do instead,' Kor said as he stood up.

"Yeah there were probably some things we missed yesterday," Kanonno said in a pretty chipper tone.

"A couple of us should go check on the ones who aren't here yet," Yuri said.

"They might still be asleep, I think Stahn said he was a heavy sleeper last night," Lloyd told them.

"Well it's not fair that they get to miss out on searching," Luke complained.

"B-but, maybe it would be best if we don't have Velvet join us," Emil suggested. But when all eyes turned on him, he quickly apologized.

"We can't make her get along," Yuri started to day. "But I'm sure as hell not about to leave her to her own device."

"You can be tempted to get into all kinds of trouble if left alone," Jude summed up.

"Sounds like Yuri just volunteered to go check on Velvet to me," Milla said lightly.

Yuri rolled his eyes. "What a pain," he said. But Sorey could tell that Yuri didn't really look that bothered by it.

A couple of others joined Yuri on checking on Stahn, Cress, and Velvet. Everyone else got into groups to search again. Somehow, Sorey ended up with Luke.

/~/~/

Sorey had no reason to dislike anyone here. They were all strangers and trapped in the same predicament. But he found that Luke tested that.

Luke wasn't mean and didn't seem purposely cause trouble. Sorey knew that deep down, Luke was kind. But man was he annoying!

There was a room they hadn't searched yesterday and it was what Monkuma called the School Store. It had all kinds of of supplies, and even though it was called a store, they didn't need to pay for anything. Things just got restocked once something was taken.

Sorey and Luke went in it. While Sorey was a but wonderstruck because he had never seen so much stuff in one place before, Luke kicked a box in frustration. "There's way too much stuff to look through," he complained.

Then he started walking out. Sorey quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. "Hey, there could be a clue or something in here," he tried to reason.

But Luke just pulled his arm back. "Someone else can search, I don't want to," he said so matter a factly. Then he walked back out into the hall.

Sorey followed him. "Come on Luke, we have to search too," Sorey tried to urge him.

"Fine, let's just check the entrance again," Luke snapped.

Sorey felt pretty confident that there was nothing else to discover there. But oh well, at least he could get Luke to do something.

"Do you really think no one can find us?" Sorey was suddenly surprised to hear Luke talk in a softer tone. When he glanced over, he saw that Luke suddenly looked much younger than he was. He was scared like a little kid. Maybe that's why he snapped like he did? He was just trying to be brave or something.

"Not sure," Sorey said honestly as he thought about what Yuri and Asbel said that morning. "But I'm sure there are some people who won't give up looking for us," Sorey tried to reassure.

"Geez, I know that already," Luke snapped and purposely started walking faster. "How dumb can you be," he muttered as he was walking to the entrance of the school.

Sorey just forced himself to smile. Or not, he concluded. That must just be how Luke was.

"I was only saying…" Luke started to say before he trailed off. He was right over the threshold to entrance hallway when he just stopped in his tracks.

"What's wro…" Sorey started to say before he saw what Luke did.

His whole body shut down. He couldn't move, speak, or even think. They had talked about this scenario happening...But Sorey just couldn't believe it really happened. It was so unreal. It couldn't be real. This had to be a dream.

It was only when Luke let out a blood curdling cry that Sorey felt like he was free from this paralyzing hold to finally react.

Laying face down beside the metal slab that blocked the entrance was Cress. But there was so much blood. On his head, on he metal slab, and even on the floor. Was he dead?

"Cress," Sorey called out and ran over to Cress. He didn't hesitate to grip Cress' shoulders. But his fingertips brushed against Cress' skin. Sorey recoiled because Cress was so cold. He was dead.

Sorey scrambled back to his feet. He just kept thinking over and over, Cress was dead. He was dead. He was dead. He was killed…

It wasn't long before they heard feet running toward them. "Hey, what's wrong?" The voice belonged to Kor. But he quickly gave a startled cry just like the rest of them and was followed by Kanonno's cries.

And before anything could be said or done, they heard the bells. Ding, dong, ding, dong. Then it was followed my Monokuma's voice that just filled them with dread. "A body has been discovered." Monokuma announced. "Everyone, please gather at the entrance of the school." They could hear the speaker cut off.

But Sorey had barely paid attention. His eyes never left Cress because he came to the sticking realization. The killing game had started. Just like Monokuma had wanted. Someone had killed Cress. He didn't want to believe it.

"W-what happen?" Kor finally broke the silence by asking.

"I didn't do," Luke quickly shouted. He was still a bit hysterical. He was holding his head like he too was still processing that Cress was dead. He even seemed to roll up in a ball in the corner.

Everyone else must have ran with all their might, because the others soon arrived. Several of them reacted just like Sorey had. "What did you all do?" Senel seemed to accuse.

"We just found him like that," Sorey defended.

"Sorey and Luke found him first," Kor suddenly said like he was shifting the blame. "Kanonno and I just came when we heard Luke screaming."

Luke jumped up at that. "I told you I didn't do it. If anyone killed Cress, it was her," Luke suddenly claimed as he pointed at Velvet. "You killed Cress, didn't you?"

It surprised Sorey a bit to see Velvet there. But she gave no visible response. She just shrugged and said, "Even if I was the culprit, why would I admit it."

Before Luke could argue more, they heard Monokuma's laugh. "Wow, now this is the fastest murder that's ever happen in a killing game. Way to be overachievers. I didn't even have to give you a motive or anything," the bear said sounding very impressed. Again, he seemed to just appear out of nowhere with them.

"Did you kill Cress?" Milla asked Monokuma.

Monokuma walked so he was in front of Cress' body and just laughed at that. "Didn't you read the rules? I would never harm a participant. The one that killed Cress Albane is one of you remaining fifteen participants. Doesn't that get your blood pumping? You're in a room with a someone who just murdered another person. You could probably still smell blood on them."

At that Sorey quickly scanned everyone. But he didn't see or sense any malevance. How could that be? Killing someone like this would cause someone to turn. It had too.

"You some kind of sick perv enjoying this?" Yuri asked Monokuma in a casual manner.

The bear's smile grew as he seemed to give Yuri a thumbs up. "You betcha."

"So now that a murder has taken place, we have to have a class trial, right?" Jude summed up.

"Yep," Monokuma nodded with much enthusiasm. "I'll give you all some time to investigate before the class trial begins."

"How long do we have to investigate?" Yuri asked.

That seemed to stump Monokuma a bit as he actually had to think about it. "You know, you all are the first to actually ask me that. Meh, the class trial will begin whenever I feel bored with your investigation."

"That's totally not fair," Asbel quickly objected along with everyone else. With their lives on the line, no one wanted the investigation to end up being something so fickle.

"Relax," Monokuma told them. "It'll be a few hours at least."

"But it takes real investigators days or more to find murderers," Ludger pointed out.

"Trust me, this will be easier," Monokuma seemed to try and reassure them. Then he gave a giggle. "I'll give you a hint though, the blackened is someone who is in this room."

It was a cruel joke. More anxious glances toward everyone. In this room was someone who was willing to kill a stranger just so they could get out. The question was now who that was.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Monokuma suddenly added. "In the spirit of fairness, since none of you are professionals, I will be giving you what I like to call the Monokuma File. It'll be in your e-handbooks. It'll tell you how the victim died and what not. Well, happy investiving." Monokuma walked out of the entrance as he waved them good-bye.


	3. Investigation

Next week I will be posting my Zestiria fic.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Investigation Time!**

Nobody said anything to Monokuma as he left. Ludger and Kanonno quickly showed everyone how to get to the "Monokuma File" on their e-handbooks. Then they all took a moment to look over the report.

Cress' image and full name popped up on Sorey's screen. And so did all his physical descriptions. Height, weight, eye color, blood type. When in the world did Monokuma have the time to get all of that? Did he have that for everyone?

Then Sorey scrolled down and the same image of Cress popped up, but with some of his head highlighted pink.

Below that it said:

 ** _Victim: Cress Albane_**

 ** _CoD: Blunt Force trauma to the head._**

 ** _Time & Location of Death: Entrance Hall at 11:30 PM_**

"This doesn't tell us much," Ludger said with a sigh.

"I'm also not inclined to put my life on this information given by the bear," Yuri said.

"Well I could at least double check and see if Cress' body tells us anything else," Jude volunteered.

"Do you...study dead bodies or something?" Veigue asked as he seemed to choose his words carefully.

"Umm...not really," Jude replied as he was a bit taken aback. "I'm a medical student. I had to take a class on autopsy. At the very least I can verify if the file is correct."

"Good enough for me," Yuri commented.

"None of us should investigate alone though," Kor suddenly suggested. "No offence Jude, but what if you're the culprit? You could hide something from us."

"What, you saying you don't trust Jude and the rest of us?" Senel suddenly asked.

Kor actually fell silent because his answer was likely; "That's right, I don't trust anyone."

So Sorey quickly said, "I don't think it's so much about trust. It's more like just making sure we hold each other accountable." They couldn't start suspecting each other or distrusting. They had to rely on everyone.

"That's a good way of putting it," Milla said. "I'll stay here and watch Jude."

"Sorry, but could the two of you not investigate together?" Yuri suddenly interrupted. "Gut feeling, you know."

"You're afraid we're working together or something?" Milla asked.

"Something like that," Yuri told her. "The two of you have been pretty chummy with each other."

"Very well, I'll keep an eye on Velvet then," Milla then suggested.

"Milla," Jude exclaimed.

But that was quickly overshadowed by Velvet's death glare. "I don't need a babysitter," she said bitterly before she stormed off.

"Now don't be like that," Milla called after Velvet before going after them. Milla actually reminded Sorey of Mikleo a bit the way she delivered that line.

"S-should we really leave Milla alone with someone like Velvet?" Emil asked.

"Honestly, I don't think Milla is someone you should cross either," Yuri commented.

"Yeah," Jude seemed to agree.

Yuri looked at the others that remained. "Lloyd, care to partner up with Jude?"

Lloyd seemed a little startled. He scratched the side of his face and said, "I don't mind, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for."

"You won't have to do anything Lloyd, we just have to partner up," Jude tried to explain.

After that, everyone else partnered up and split up. Several groups went to go look for the murder weapon since there wasn't one by Cress. At first everyone was just going to go with who they started searching with this morning. But Luke adamantly refused to be partnered up with Sorey again, saying that Sorey was bad luck. So Sorey ended up partnered with Yuri.

"So where should we even begin?" Sorey asked.

"Why don't we figure out who was the last person to see Cress alive and get their alibis," Yuri suggested. "But I think I'm going to be the most suspicious person."

"Do you think you were the last person to see Cress?" Sorey asked.

"At least the only person who would admit it," Yuri told him. Yuri spoke very casually the whole time. Sorey really was jealous at that about Yuri. "After we all left the cafeteria last night, Cress and I decided to search the school some more. But we decided to call it a night at about eleven. But Cress wanted to look in a classroom one more time. So we separated."

And about a half hour later, Cress was killed. It sounded likely that Cress kept searching on his own. "Did you see anyone when you went to bed?" Sorey asked. If Yuri say anyone else then that would be the next suspicious person.

"Nope," Yuri answered. "What about you Sorey?"

"Oh," Sorey was a bit startled by that. But of course he also needed to be questioned. "I talked with some of the others. But I went back to my room when the night announcement played."

"And that was at ten," Yuri said as he paused. "It's likely that a lot of people will say the same thing."

"Yuri, do you really think it's one of us?" Sorey suddenly asked. It still bothered him that he could see anyone as a hellion.

And Yuri just shrugged. "I have no clue. I'd be simpler if it was just Monokuma or a goon of his. But it's more likely that it's one of us."

He didn't want that. It just didn't make sense to Sorey that it could be one of the participants. Everyone seemed like good people. So for Monokuma to make situations where they would kill each other was just too cruel.

"Sorey," Yuri suddenly said that brought him out of his thoughts. "You look like a good kid, so I think I know what you're thinking about. But right now, we need to think about Cress. I'm not saying I knew him too well, but he didn't deserve to be killed. So we need to make sure we find them. For his sake."

He was right. For Cress, Sorey at least wanted to make sure that they found out who killed him. "Okay," Sorey said. He didn't get a chance to know Cress well, but he would find out who did this to him.

So he and Yuri moved on to the next group of people. Somehow Senel and Emil had been paired up. They were searching the entrance and hallway in case the culprit left anything behind. Emil looked a bit uncomfortable being paired with Senel.

"So where were you two last night?" Yuri didn't beat around the bush.

"I was asleep," Senel told him just as bluntly.

"S-same," Emil repeated.

"Well, do either of you have a suspect in mind," Sorey asked. If they could hear everyone's thought on this, they might be able to find someone more suspicious.

"My vote's going to Velvet," Senel replied without even thinking about it. After last night, most people were going to think it was Velvet even without any proof.

"What about you Emil?" Yuri then asked without a single comment on Senel's answer.

"I-I think it's…" Emil said but stopped, He looked so troubled by what he was about to say.

"Come on, spit it out," Senel snapped. "All our lives are on the line here."

"I-I'm sorry," Emil was quick to say. Emil was like a turtle, Sorey realized. He would withdraw when met with any kind of opposition.

"Take a breath and stand straight," Yuri told Emil like an instructor correcting a form.

And Emil did just that. Except for the standing up straight. "I think it's Lloyd," he muttered

Not that Sorey was ranking people on how guilty he thought they were, but Lloyd would have been pretty low on Sorey's list.

"Lloyd? Anything to back up that claim?" Yuri asked.

"Before I went to bed, I did see Lloyd walking toward the school part," Emil tried to explain.

"And the time?"

"It was right after the announcements last night."

"So around ten," Sorey summed up.

"That's about an hour and a half before Cress was killed. Lloyd doesn't strike me as the lie and wait type of guy."

Emil made no comment even though he clearly wanted to say something.

"Are you done with your questioning?" Senel asked.

"Sure," Yuri said as he motioned for Sorey to follow them.

But Sorey lingered to ask, "Have you guys found anything yet?"

"Nothing," Senel snapped.

"What are we even supposed to look for anyway?" Emil then asked.

"Just anything that shouldn't be here. And these halls are all unnaturally clean," Senel pointed out.

Sorey never really considered it, but their prison was pretty clean with good upkeep. He supposed he didn't want to associate this place with anything remotely positive.

"Come on Sorey, we've got more things to do," Yuri then told him.

Sorey agreed and followed Yuri back to Jude and Lloyd. Even though Sorey was confident that Lloyd wasn't the culprit, they at least needed to know his side and rule him out as a suspect.

They rounded the corner and saw that Jude was busy at work examining Cress' body. With the initial shock of Cress' death over, Jude seemed completely at ease. But he said he had been studying to be a doctor. Sorey had to remind himself that Jude wouldn't make a good doctor if he was squeamish at blood.

Now while Lloyd didn't look sick, he didn't look very comfortable with being in the same room for long. He was a few steps away from Jude and Cress' body. Again, Sorey couldn't picture Lloyd being the killer. Sorey quickly glanced around the entrance hall and saw that nothing seemed unusual other than a dead body. Looking at Cress made Sorey flinch each time. He couldn't help but wonder if there could have been anything he could have done to prevent this.

He suddenly felt a nudge at his side. It had been Yuri, but he didn't say anything to Sorey and directed his question to Jude. "How's it looking Jude? Can we trust the file?"

Jude's eyes never left Cress' body. "I'm still looking into that," Jude answered. "But so far it is looking like the Monokuma file is accurate."

Sorey saw some disappointment on Yuri's face. He may have been thinking that if the Monokuma file was wrong, then Monokuma may really be behind this. But he didn't voice this.

"Of course, without proper tools, I can't guarantee it's a hundred percent accurate," Jude pointed out. "But there are no other injuries on Cress, other than the head wound. And with the state of his body, I can guess that he was killed sometime last night. But that's about all I can really do."

"Would it be possible to figure out what the murder weapon was?" Sorey then asked.

"I'm going to have to clean up the wound some before I could take a guess. I'm just working myself up to do it."

Most of the other groups we looking into what could have been the murder weapon in various parts of the school. Searching would have been easier if they had an idea what it could have been.

"Do you think Cress got into a fight?" Yuri asked out loud. He was looking at the blood splatter on the wall.

"It's possible," Jude agreed. "But if so, it was a very one sided one. There could have been a brief struggle, but Cress doesn't have any other injuries."

Sorey took a better look at the blood stain on the wall. It was right at his head and the same shape with some of it spread out from being splattered. "With this much blood, Cress must have hit his head pretty hard on the wall," Sorey commented.

"That's what I'm thinking happened," Jude started to explained. "The culprit must have hit him so hard he also hit the wall at an incredible impact. It's likely Cress dead before he fell to the ground."

Sorey wondered if they should take some comfort that Cress died quickly. But Sorey couldn't help but feel that there could have been something they could have done to stop this all together.

"But with this much blood, it should have gotten on the murderer, right?" Lloyd suddenly said.

"That's a good point," Sorey muttered as he thought about it. There was no way they would be able to get rid of the murder weapon and clean the blood off their clothes in time. So if they just examined everyone closely they would be able to see who had blood.

"They would have just changed clothes though. Besides I don't think Monokuma would give use enough time to search everyone's rooms," Yuri pointed out.

"But where would they have gotten new clothes?" Lloyd asked. "It looked like everyone wore the same clothes as yesterday." Sorey was curious too.

Jude began scratching the side of head. "The closets in our rooms are filled with identical clothes." he explained.

"They are?" Both Sorey and Lloyd asked almost at the same time.

Both Yuri and Jude gave them a confused look at them. But Yuri finally said, "Did the two of you really fall asleep last night without checking every inch of that room after what the bear told us would happen?"

"Well, Monokuma said he wouldn't do anything to us directly," Lloyd answered.

Sorey just nodded. He had been pretty exhausted last night and hadn't really noticed that there had been a closet in the room.

Yuri just shook his head. "If we survive this class trial, you two promise me that you'll be more aware of your surroundings."

Yuri had a point. It was an unpleasant thought, but it was doubtful Monokuma would leave them alone after they survive this trial. They all had to be on top of everything if they were going to survive.

After both Sorey and Lloyd promised, Yuri then asked, "So we need to ask, what you two did last night."

"I understand," Jude said before he went on. "I did search the nurses station last night. But I went back to my room shortly after the night announcement."

"Oh yeah, I saw you there last night," Lloyd added.

"Were you at the school store?" Sorey took a guess. The nurses office was right next to the school store.

Lloyd's tone and appearance didn't change in the slightest. "Yep. Kor, Stahn, and I went there after Monokuma told us about it. There were some snack food there that we decided to check out since the cafeteria was closed. Apparently everything gets restocked, so we didn't have to worry about paying for anything."

"Seriously, you three went there because Monokuma told you?" Yuri said with a sigh.

Lloyd looked a bit embarrassed at that. "Well now that you pointed it out, I guess that was a bit risky."

Yuri seemed fight back the urge to scold Lloyd more. He went on to ask, "So how long were you three there for?"

"Not sure," Lloyd said as he thought about it. "I never check the time. But the three of us went back to our rooms at the same time."

"And you never saw Cress or anyone else?" Sorey asked.

"I don't think so," Lloyd answered. "We were busy chatting, so I may not have noticed anyone else."

"Seriously, start paying attention more," Yuri said before motioning for Sorey to follow. "Alright, we'll leave the rest here to you two."

Jude and Lloyd nodded and Sorey and Yuri went off to find the others. They had a lot more alibis to get to.

/~/~/

It had probably been an hour since they left Jude and Lloyd to gather everyone else's alibis. Everyone else was busy looking to see what could be used as the murder weapon. There was no doubt that the murder did in fact take place at the entrance hall. So really the only things they could possibly do was to look for whatever killed Cress.

Velvet and Milla ended up looking in the gym to find nothing so far. Of course, it seemed like what they did the most was argue. Velvet didn't like Milla's presences. When they asked the women where they were last night, Milla replied that she had chatted with Kanonno for a bit before heading to her room. And that had been shortly after the announcement.

Velvet wasn't as forthcoming. She first said it was none of their business. But Yuri told her plainly that some were suspecting her because of her outburst last night. "Fine, I locked myself in my assigned room after I left just in case anyone else got the idea to kill. And it looks like my suspicions were right," she had told them.

That hadn't been much help.

The two of them then found Kanonno and Veigue in the school store. They too thought the murder weapon could have been hidden in there since it was close to the entrance. But they hadn't found anything that look like it had been used. But there was still a ways to go in their search.

The two of them gave them their alibis with no problem. And they were pretty much the same as everyone else's. They had gone back to their rooms shortly after the announcement.

The next group to check on was Kor and Luke. Sorey did feel a bit bad that Kor because he had to practically babysit Luke. The two of them were supposed to be looking in kitchen. But it seemed like they were arguing over the murder weapon.

"Come on, it clearly could have been a knife that killed him," Luke tried to argue.

"Cress died from a blow to the head, I don't think a knife could do it," Kor argued back.

"Luke, let's just drop this until you find a bloody knife," Yuri suddenly interrupted.

Surprisingly Luke did drop it and Kor gave Yuri a grateful look. But Luke quickly asked, "So what are you two doing? Skipping out of searching with the rest of us?"

"We're gathering everyone's alibis so the class trial will go smoother," Sorey told him and hoped he would drop it.

Yuri didn't give Luke the chance, because he quickly asked, "So where were you two last night? Kor, we already heard from Lloyd about your trip to the school store."

But before Kor could respond, Luke quickly shouted, "I told you I didn't do it?"

"Come on Luke, we're asking everyone this." Sorey tried to reason. "Just tell us where you were so won't suspect you."

Luke was basically pouting and had his arms folded. But he did finally tell them. "I was talking with Asbel last night."

Sorey breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't bother asking more. They could just ask Asbel to verify.

"And I was with Lloyd and Stahn last night. I think we left after eleven," Kor told his piece. But then he looked a bit uncomfortable. Finally he admitted, "But I think I saw Cress last."

"Where at?" Sorey asked. This was finally a led they needed.

"I saw him leaving one of the classrooms to the entrance hall," Kor explained. Then he added, "I can't help but wonder now what would have happened if I called out to him."

"None of us could have known what was going to happen," Sorey told him.

"Plus, Cress was pretty adamant about searching more," Yuri added. "He probably still would have gone to the entrance hall even if you had called out to him."

Kor still had a depressed look.

"But you know it's obviously that crazy Velvet killed Cress," Luke suddenly started saying.

"What makes you think that? Did you find any evidence?" Sorey asked. He didn't want it to be Velvet. He didn't want it to be anyone. He was still holding out hope that Monokuma was the real blacken so he wouldn't have to distrust anyone.

"Come on Sorey," Kor started. "You saw the way she left last night. She was probably looking for someone to kill so she could get out."

Kor was right. But… "We all have the same motive though," Sorey told him. Velvet was the only one who was vocal about her intentions. He didn't know anyone here very well, but there was just something that made him think it wasn't Velvet.

"I'm not ruling Velvet out as a suspect," Yuri suddenly interrupted. "But I think the same as Sorey. I don't think it's Velvet either." That surprised Sorey. Yuri also thought Velvet was innocent in this?

"Come on, she clearly could have killed Cress," Luke argued.

"You're right," Yuri admitted. "But so could the rest of us."

"So what makes you so sure it's not Velvet?" Kor asked.

Yuri just scratched the back of his head and looked like he wasn't sure if he should share his thoughts. "This could just be me overestimating her, but I'm sure she's thinking the same thing I am. We need to see how these class trials work first before we can even consider becoming this blacken. We only have one chance to win this after all."

He said it so casually it startled them more than what he actually said. "You're thinking about killing someone!" Luke exclaimed and took several steps back.

Yuri just let out a sigh. "I knew you all would take that the wrong way."

Kor had also took a few steps away from Yuri and still looked pretty nervous. But he said, "I think I get what you're saying."

"We're looking for someone desperate enough to kill and impulsive enough to not even plan the murder, right?" Sorey asked. Sorey had been startled, but he didn't move away from Yuri.

"That's at least who I think it could be," Yuri said. "Just looking at it, it's pretty clear that it was an opportunity murder. The killer probably stumbled on Cress alone and saw their chance to get out," Yuri went on to explain.

That sounded corrected and made sense. Nothing looked staged and the murder could have only happen in the entrance hall. "That could explain why no one has malevolence," Sorey muttered to himself. That may not have turned them into hellions if it was an impulsive murder, but there should still be some malevolence hanging over them.

"Malevolence?" Kor asked.

That startled Sorey some as he saw that none of them had a clue about what he was talking about. Then he remembered what they had talked about that morning. They were possibly from different worlds. "Where I'm from people can turn into monsters if they give into malevolence. You know, like killing someone or other negative things," Sorey briefly. Then it hit him as he looked at the bracelet on his wrist. "Then again, this thing may be blocking my resonance or something like that." Maybe Monokuma was like a normin or seraphim with a blessing that could block things. That could be it.

"I maybe understood about half of that," Yuri admitted. "But it sounds like you come from a pretty just world."

Sorey's mood dropped more as he thought about all that was wrong in his world. The destruction it caused and even the plague town he had been trying to help. And he was here instead of there. How many people were suffering because he wasn't doing his duty as the Shepherd? "There are a lot of problems going on," Sorey admitted.

Yuri caught on pretty quickly and just said, "I guess our worlds aren't that different then."

Sorey quickly shook the thought away. Right now he needed to focus what was in front of him. He need to find justice for Cress. "Anyway, that was great insight Yuri. I don't know what we would have done without you," Sorey told him.

But Yuri just shrugged and said, "Of course I could be doing all of this to mess with you and get someone else blamed. I told you Sorey, I'm the most likely suspect."

"That'd make you quite the villain," Sorey said in an almost joking way.

"And you don't even suspect that?" Yuri asked.

Did Yuri want to be the villain or something? But Sorey shook his head. "Monokuma said we were all heroes. So I don't think that's the case. Plus you seem like a good person."

"Did it ever cross your mind that Monokuma may have been lying?" Yuri asked like he was asking a simple question.

Before Sorey could even reply, they were suddenly interrupted. "I never lie," the voice of Monokuma declared. When they looked, they saw that Monokuma had appeared out of nowhere on one of the preparing tables.

Sorey was so startled that he stumbled to the ground. "Wah," Sorey cried out.

"What are you doing here?" Kor shouted from across the room.

"I'm just here to clarify some facts," Monokuma told them simply. "I wouldn't be a good headmaster or even game host if I was a liar. Sure, I may keep facts from you. But everything said in my voice is the truth."

"I find that hard to believe from such an obvious villain," Yuri said.

It was Monokuma's turn to shrug. "Well believe whatever you want. It's not like I care," he said. Then he started waddling away.

"Do you really think Monokuma is lying?" Sorey asked.

"You don't?" Yuri asked in return.

Sorey had to think. There was a part of him that wanted Monokuma to be a liar. It'd make their situation more bearable. But the other part of him knew that Monokuma was speaking the truth. "I think he's telling the truth," Sorey answered. All of this was hard to believe and it felt a bit hubris to believe they were all heroes just because Monokuma said. Sorey certainly hadn't done anything that could be considered as heroic. Then Sorey gave a small nervous laugh, "You're probably going to tell me I'm being foolish and gullible, huh?"

But Yuri didn't. With his arms folded, he instead said, "Well if your world is like what I think it is, then it's probably best you stay innocent. I'm just going to suggest that you develop some skepticism. Having blind loyalty or faith can lead you down a pretty dark path. Same as doing dastardly deeds yourself."

Compliancy in those deeds were just as bad, Sorey knew that. He suppose Yuri did have a point in the blind loyalty. It could be considered synonyms in some cases. "I'll keep that in mind," Sorey told him.

Yuri said no more on the matter and just changed the subject. "Come on, we've got one more group to question," Yuri told him.

/~/~/

The last people they had to check were Asbel, Ludger and Stahn. It took a while to locate them, but they finally found them outside of Cress' room. The door was open and Yuri and Sorey had caught them just leaving Cress' room.

Stahn noticed them first and even waved them over. "Yo, Yuri, Sorey, did come to help us out."

"Not necessarily," Sorey answered. "We getting everyone's alibis. You all wouldn't care to tell us where you were when Cress was killed, would you?"

"We already heard that Stahn was with Lloyd and Kor last night, and that Asbel was talking with Luke. If you can just tell us what you all did afterwards," Yuri went on to explain.

"I went into my room when I parted with Lloyd and Kor," Stahn told them.

"I got to talking with Luke until it was about maybe eleven," Asbel admitted. "But I didn't see anyone else out or anything suspicious."

"What did the two of you get to talking about that long about?" Stahn asked. Sorey was a bit curious too. Luke didn't seem to the type to stay on the same subject for long.

"Long story short, we found out that we're both first sons of noble families," Asbel explained. "When he got to talking about his home, I started to realize that things weren't matching up."

"No way, you're a noble," Stahn said sounding shocked. Sorey didn't find it was shocking. If anything, Asbel did sort of remind him of Alisha. But it did surprise him to hear that about Luke.

"Never would have pegged you a noble," Yuri commented.

"Well, I guess technically I'm not a noble anymore since I'm training to become a knight," Asbel clarified and seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Maybe we should save this for after the trial," Ludger suddenly said.

"Good point," Yuri said sounding all too eager to change the subject. "So where were you last night Ludger?"

"I just went to bed," he answered. "Sorry, I know that wasn't helpful."

"It's at least the same for everyone too," Sorey told him. It was disappointing, they hadn't gotten a single solid alibi. With no alibi, then they couldn't be certain that anyone wasn't the murderer

"Of course, if the one who killed Cress is one of us, then we know that at least one of us is lying," Yuri pointed out.

Sorey supposed he should have suspected that. But it surprised him nonetheless. It just hadn't occurred to him that someone purposely lied to him.

"You really think we had someone here that would betray everyone like that?" Stahn suddenly asked. He actually looked worried about that. "Everyone seems like they're good people."

"At this point, all our lives are on the line," Asbel said. "If we don't find out who the blackened is, then all of us, but them, will be killed."

"So, does that mean they're our enemy?" Stahn asked.

"I think that's a fair assessment," Asbel replied. "They knew what would happen if they started the killing game. So they killed Cress and just didn't care if it meant the rest of us died just so they could get out." Asbel, he actually looked angry.

"Do you disagree Ludger?" Yuri suddenly asked.

Ludger was startled when the direction changed to him. Before that, he had looked a bit uncomfortable. "No," he answered. "But I guess I'm worried about finding out who it is. Like Monokuma said, there was no motive given. So what could have driven them to kill in such a short time?"

Ludger must have come to the same conclusion as Yuri. The blackened was someone who desperate enough to do something drastic enough as murder someone knowing the consequences of doing so in this environment. What would be worth it? Sorey could only think of his own situation. The people of Marlind were in desperate aid of purification to save them from the plague. But Sorey couldn't even consider becoming the blackened just so he could save them. What kind of Shepherd would be if he murdered someone and caused the deaths of the rest of the people stuck with him?

"If you're worried that we might be doing the wrong thing by finding the blackened, don't be," Yuri said plainly. "It's fine for us to want to live."

"I guess I was just trying to figure out why they did it and what could be waiting for them outside this game," Sorey told him.

"They'll be plenty of time to figure that out later. One mystery at a time," Yuri said. Then he asked, "So what were you all looking in Cress' room for?"

"It was Ludger's idea," Stahn spoke up and sounded his normal self again. "He thought that maybe Cress was lured out in the middle of the night."

"We were hoping to find a note or something like that to explain why he was out that late. Maybe the murderer asked to see him by the entrance," Asbel furthered explained.

Ludger suddenly looked a bit down and started rubbing the back of his head. "But it looks like it was a flop. We didn't find anything," he said.

"That didn't sound like a bad idea at least," Yuri said. "But how did you all even get in? All the doors would be locked."

"Why would his room be locked?" Sorey asked.

"Sorey," Yuri suddenly snapped as he rubbed his brow and gave a big exhausted sigh. "Tell me you locked your door last night."

"S-should I have?" Sorey asked hesitantly. Monokuma had handed out keys to their rooms last night. But none of the rooms had been locked. Sorey just didn't even think about it.

Yuri looked to be fighting the urge to say what he really wanted to. Instead, he just said, "Just start locking your damn door at night."

Sorey just nodded. He wouldn't say out loud that he may have misplaced the key.

"Anyway," Ludger said to get them back on track. "Cress' door wasn't locked."

"So he was either like Sorey or never even went into his room," Yuri summed up.

"Sounds like we're no closer to figuring this out," Ludger muttered.

"Looks like we'll have to hope that Jude's found something," Asbel said.

Before any of them could reply, Monokuma just suddenly showed up in the center of them which startled all of them. "What now?" Sorey asked.

Monokuma tilted his head to the side and somehow looked confused. "I don't know, I just suddenly started feeling annoyed listening to him," he said as he pointed at Asbel.

"Me, what did I do?" Asbel asked, even more startled now.

Still looking confused, Monokuma explained, "That's what I'm confused about. Normally I love hearing that you all have hope and then to have it suddenly crushed by despair. But hearing you talk about hope just rubs me the wrong way for some reason."

"W-what's wrong with me saying the word hope?" Asbel asked.

At that Monokuma started growling. "There it is again," he snapped. "It's really starting to piss me off."

"Do you have a good reason for showing up this time?" Yuri quickly asked to get things back on to the more pressing issue.

Again, Monokuma tilted his head and gave another confused look. "I guess not. I must be feeling bored if I wanted to hang out with you lot. Anyway…" Their captor trailed off suddenly and didn't add anything else.

But then suddenly the bell rang.

*Ding* *Dong* *Ding* *Dong*

" _Ahem, I think that was plenty of time,"_ Monokuma'ssuddenly came through the speakers instead.

"Ah, the bear's gone," Stahn then exclaimed. They all quickly looked and saw that Monokuma had disappeared. They must have all looked up when they heard the bell. But how did he disappear and get to where his voice went through the whole building.

" _Please meet at the black and white doors at the end of the hall from the gym. The Class Trial will begin shortly. Anyone not in attendance will be punished as stated in the rules. So you better be there. See you soon."_ It clicked off and there was silence in the hallway.

It was time for the class trial. And they were nowhere near close enough to figuring out who killed Cress. They were going into battle without any of their weapons or even powers if they had them.

The others looked about the same as Sorey; they were dreading class trial. They weren't prepared. They weren't ready. This wasn't nearly as long as they needed to find the truth. Plus, were they really ready to point fingers at another?

"Come on guys, I'd prefer not to find out what the punishment for skipping is," Yuri suddenly said and that brought everyone out of their thoughts.

He looked so calm despite knowing that something horrible would happen. Either they get it wrong and all die, or it is one of them that dies instead. And they didn't have a single clue to the culprit. Yet Yuri didn't look worried at all.

But seeing how calm he was had a different effect on the others. "Right, we better get going," Ludger said. "It sounds like not going will get us killed to."

"I suppose good luck to everyone is in order," Asbel muttered as he and the other two started walking to where Monokuma told them to.

"Do you know who it is?" Sorey asked. That was the only way Yuri could have stayed so calm. He must have some kind of idea.

"Not clue," Yuri answered.

"You're kidding," Sorey blurted out. "The class trial is about to start and you don't look worried at all." Sorey liked to think he could handle stressful situations pretty well for his age. But he with none of his friends or having a single clue about what a trial was even like, his nerves were getting the better of him.

"Do I really look like that?" Yuri actually asked.

"Well yeah," Sorey told him.

There was a very brief moment when Yuri just looked at him, like he was considering what to tell him. But finally he said, "I guess I just don't see the point in worrying over something I don't even know about. At the very least, I think the odds are in our favor. If it is one of us, then it's fourteen against one."

It was then that he really thought about the rules of the trial. If they did find the culprit, then they will be executed. "Is this really alright? Meeting more death with death?" Sorey asked. He knew the laws of his world. There were cases of execution for committing murder. But that just leaves them with more death. How much malevolence would this cause?

"Would you rather die instead?" Yuri asked simply.

Sorey's head shot up. But he didn't have an answer. He certainly didn't want to die. However, he wanted to protect everyone.

"Look," Yuri then said, "you probably shouldn't be taking advice from me. But just keep this in mind if it helps you sleep at night, this is all messed up. So all you can do is take care of yourself and try to survive. In this place, if you try to take care of everyone else, you're just going to fail and go mad because you couldn't protect them."

"Don't put all the burdens on yourself," Sorey muttered. He heard someone else tell him that.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head. It was so sharp that he fell to his knees and held his head. He let out a few grunts as it felt like something was hammering into his head. He heard Yuri shouting his name.

But it was soon replaced with his friends shouting his name. And he was in the woods now.

 _"You couldn't see it, could you?"_ It was Edna's voice talking to him. " _Alisha and Mikleo nearly died because of you_."

That's right, they had been fighting a monster. And Sorey's vision had been getting darker. He had tried to hide it because he didn't want to worry anyone. He also wanted Alisha to continue traveling with them. But...

" _Well I'm not dead. And Sorey was only hiding it for Alisha's sake,_ " Mikleo tried to defend Sorey.

" _I understand that, but even so…_ " Lailah started to say.

" _He's at his limit_ ," Edna finished.

"I know," Sorey found himself muttering.

"Know what? You okay?" It was Yuri who said that.

It took Sorey a moment to realize he was still in the school. His friends weren't with him. He was remembering something. That's right, they had restored the blessing to Marlind and were getting rid of some hellions. Why was he remembering that now? Why had he forgotten that?

"I'm fine," Sorey told him. The pain in his head was going away and he was getting his bearing again. He started to get up himself, but Yuri had his hand out for him. "Thanks," Sorey said as Yuri got him back to his feet.

"You good? No more fainting spells?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Sorey said. But he was still bothered by the fact that he remembered something so randomly. He even still felt a bit light headed. He should be relieved to know that the city was safe instead of worrying about his mind.

"Okay then, let's get going then," Yuri said as he started walking away.

 _I probably shouldn't worry about that for now,_ he told himself. They had a something much bigger to worry about after all.

/~/~/

The black and white doors were unlocked this time. When Sorey and Yuri entered, everyone else was already there waiting for them. It was a small room that everyone stood pretty close together. It was crowded, but most everyone didn't want to stand close to anyone else they may have thought was the blackended. Most of them were avoiding Velvet.

"Don't tell this is where we're supposed to have the trial," Lloyd commented.

"It looks more like we've fallen into a trap," Veigue said.

Suddenly the bars on the other side opened up to reveal what looked like a smaller room. "It's an elevator," Ludger explained. "It'll probably take us to where the class trial is held."

Suddenly Yuri pulled on the doors they had just come through, only to find they wouldn't budge. "Well it looks like the elevator is the only way," he commented.

Luke moaned, "I don't want to go in that tiny box."

"Come on, let's get this over with," Asbel said as he was the first one to walk into the elevator.

One by one, they all go into the elevator, and when the last one entered the bars closed and box shook briefly. The they could feel it start to descend. They were heading underground.

It seemed like it took forever to go down in the shaky elevator. A thought crossed Sorey's mind. What if this elevator ride was just to make them more nervous? He glanced at a few others and could see that they were visibly scared. When they reached the bottom, either one of them or all of them were going to die.

Sorey then realized that it wasn't the elevator that was shaking, but himself. He looked down at his hand and saw that it was shaking. Sorey had never thought about dying before, even when he fought a dangerous hellion. But this was so different. If Monokuma had his way, someone would die again today.

That was what scared Sorey the most. That they were playing into Monokuma's hand. He controlled them so easily. And none of them had the slightest clue on how to fight back. Even if they could physically beat the bear, how were they going to get out of here?

*Ding*

The elevator came to a stop and slowly opened up. It was bright, but it was still an enclosed circular space. But it was probably bigger than the gym. Along the wall were stands like an audience was supposed to sit there. In the centers were a bunch of podiums in a circle facing each other. Sorey didn't need to count to know that there were sixteen of them. One of them had a sign standing on top of the podium, but Sorey couldn't see what it said.

Monokuma was already there sitting on a tall chair that overlooked the sixteen podiums. He jumped up from his seat. "Welcome to the courtroom everyone. Please find the podium with your name on it," he said in a mild manner tone. But they all knew it was an order.

Everyone started walking toward the podiums. Soon though-

"What the hell is this?" Luke shouted with his eyes on the sign. He was one of the first reach his podium. One by one they came to their seats and saw what Luke saw.

"Come on, there's no point for death to separate us," Monokuma answered. "I said all participants, and that means Cress needs to be here."

One the sign, was a funeral picture of Cress, the victim of this case. But that wasn't the worst part. There was a giant 'X' over his face...and it looked like it was made with blood. Surely it wasn't Cress'. Sorey kept telling himself that it was just paint.

"That's morbid as hell," Asbel commented.

"Well, whoever killed Cress, I have real pity for them," Yuri commented. "Their victim will be starting them down this whole time."

Was this why Monokuma put Cress' picture here? To torture the culprit and make it harder for him to get away with it? Sorey looked at Monokuma, but the bear looked the same as always.

"I hope you're excited you bastards," Monokuma announced. "The heart pounding excitement of the class trial is about to begin."


	4. Class Trial!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Class Trial Starts**!

 _Court Is In Session_

Monokuma cleared his throat. "Ahem! Now then, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial. During the trial, you'll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for "whodunnit." Vote correctly, and the only the _blackened_ will be punished. But if you picked the wrong person…" He paused briefly like he was giving some kind of dramatic timing. "I'll punish everyone "besides the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy and can go back to their home." He then quickly added, "Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for someone."

Monokuma them jumped up from his seat with his paws in the air. "Now, let's get this heart pounding trial underway."

"We...really have to do this? It's really one of us?" Kor asked looking a bit pale. Sorey shared that same sentiment. This was really happening.

"Try to look at it this way, we're just looking for the truth," Jude said.

"Whatever that truth may be," Senel muttered.

"I don't suppose anyone knows how these things are supposed to go, do they?" Lloyd asked nervously.

"This all seems quite different than an actual trial," Ludger commented.

"I've read a few books about the way humans conduct this sort of thing" Milla added. "But Ludger seems to be right, this is very different from what I read."

"Maybe we should start thinking about who some suspects are," Veigue suggested.

"Okay, so how about we go around and see who everyone thinks is the culprit," Kanonno said.

"This is so pointless," Luke suddenly shouted before they could go on. "It's so obviously Velvet."

Sorey knew this was going to happen. He glanced at Velvet who was right next to him and who was glaring at the red head. But the rest of her demeanor stayed pretty calm. "I suppose you have proof that I killed Cress?" She asked.

"You weren't at breakfast this morning. So you must have been off murdering Cress," Luke claimed.

"Luke, a lot of people didn't show up to breakfast this morning. Not just Velvet," Kor pointed out with a sigh. He must be getting pretty tired to explaining things to Luke

"Fine, the suspects are Velvet and Stahn then because they weren't there this morning at all," Luke clarified.

"Okay, so we have two suspects now," Stahn started to say without fully realizing what that meant. It then dawned on him. "Hold on, why am I suspect. I was asleep this morning. So I couldn't have done it."

"Not that it excludes Stahn," Sorey started to say, "but Cress was killed last night around 11:30. Not this morning."

"Luke did you even read the Monokuma file?" Asbel asked.

Luke suddenly looked very sheepish. "I... I thought we weren't trusting Monokuma, so why should I have?"

"For clarification, I looked over Cress' body," Jude suddenly announced. "I can confirm with what little the file tells us. He died of blunt force trauma to the head last night."

"Yeah, I second that," Lloyd said with his hand raised. Then he quickly lowered it. "Although, I'm not really sure how he came up with that, to be honest," he admitted.

"The body would have been fresher if he was killed this morning," Yuri pointed out. "So it had to have happened last night. Sorey and I confirmed it, nobody has an alibi for nighttime. So we're all suspects."

"Seriously Yuri, why are you so comfortable talking like that?" Kor asked.

To which Yuri just shrugged.

Sorey knew why Yuri said what he did. He was making sure that everyone was on the same page. There would be no more questions about when it happened. Before nighttime and breakfast were the only times people would have alibis.

"But Luke does have a point," Asbel started to say, "How do we know Monokuma will be truthful about who actually killed Cress? This is just some sick game he's playing and just to mess with us, he'll lie about who the real culprit it."

"Now why would I do that?" Monokuma suddenly asked. "I'm on the side of justice. I want the person who killed Cress to pay for what he did. He was my beloved-"

"Q-quit acting like you care what happens to us," Emil suddenly snapped, which startled everyone. Everything was quiet for a moment as they were getting over hearing Emil talk that loud. With everyone looking at him. Emil's head dropped. "I-I'm sorry for interrupting," he quickly said. He may have been afraid of the punishments.

"Don't apologize, especially to Monokuma," Yuri told him.

"Hey," Monokuma snapped.

"But Emil's right," Lloyd said. "I hate the word "justice". But if you really were on side of justice, you wouldn't have allowed Cress to be killed in the first place."

Monokuma just looked blankly at them. "You hate justice, huh? Not a very hero thing to say. So are you saying that Cress and all his friends and family don't deserve to have the culprit punished for his crimes?"

"I'm not saying that," Lloyd tried to defend.

Monokuma just ignored him. "It's simple, you commit a crime you get punished for it. That would be the good ending to this situation."

"Yet, if we fail, the innocent die and the murderer will get to leave this place," Milla pointed out.

"Well of course, there has to be some kind of incentive for both sides," Monokuma explained. "Freedom or your life? It wouldn't be any fun watching if everyone's lives weren't on the line. Besides will the blacken truly be free if they survive? You don't think a hero would be wrought with guilt or that their victim's soul wouldn't haunt them?"

There was a pause as Monokuma let his words settle. Then he quickly snapped, "Now get back to finding the blackened. I don't have all day."

"Regardless, we're not going to figure anything out until we find out how Cress was killed," Sorey said so they would get back on topic. It was just like Yuri said. They had to do this for Cress right now. It wasn't right that he was murdered. Someone did do something wrong after all.

"Jude, in your professional opinion, what do you think is the murder weapon?" Asbel asked.

Jude looked a bit uneasy with all the weight shifted to him. But he composed himself and had a finger against the side of his head. "Before I say that, I would like to hear what everyone typically fights with."

"Why the hell do you need to know that?" Kor asked.

"Just humor me for a moment," Jude answered. "I'll start. I use martial artes. So I fight with my fists."

There were a few small protests about this random tangent. But they started going around the courtroom saying what they fought with.

"Sword," Veigue answered.

"Same," Asbel said.

"As do I," said Kanonno.

"I use dual swords," said Lloyd.

"I use dual swords too. And dual pistols and a hammer," said Ludger.

"Wow, that's...extra...I just use a sword," said Kor. He must have been thinking it wasn't fair going after Ludger.

"I use a sword too," Luke spat out.

"I fight bare handed," said Senel

"I prefer a sword, but I'll use an axe or my fist if I have to," said Yuri. Then he quickly added, "You to, Velvet," when it was obvious that she wasn't going to share willingly.

"I fight with a blade," she practically growled with her arms folded.

"I use sword," said Sorey.

"Sword," Emil said barely auditable.

"Hey, it looks like most of us use swords," Stahn actually said with a bit of a laugh.

"I as well use a sword, and if I didn't have this Monokuma bracelet, I could use magic as well," said Milla.

"Okay, so we humored you. What does this have to do with Cress' murder?" Asbel asked.

"In my opinion, I don't think a "weapon" was used," Jude told them.

"You're saying someone punched him to death, right?" Milla summed up.

"And that's why you wanted us to say our fighting style with as little bias as possible," Yuri pointed out.

"Yes, and I'm pretty confident that it was only one hit before Cress was dead," Jude concluded.

"Yeah, it was so hard that there was a dent in the wall," Lloyd pointed out.

"On a hunch, Lloyd and I cleaned up the wall and sure enough Cress had hit the wall enough to leave a deep indent."

Sorey winced a bit as he pictured it. The culprit punched Cress in the head so hard to have bent the metal. That would cause internal trauma. Sorey hoped that meant Cress died instantly.

"So that means Jude and Senel are the most likely suspects," Ludger summed up.

"We might as well throw Yuri into that list," Milla pointed out. "He even admitted to seeing Cress last."

"Figured," Yuri muttered as he just shrugged. Sorey seriously couldn't believe just how composed Yuri was being in all of this. Sorey wasn't sure how he'd react if he was accused.

A few others seemed to think that and Luke even said it out loud. "Damn it, why are you so calm about all of this?" he shouted.

"Since I saw Cress last night I knew I'd be suspected," Yuri told him. "But I at least know I didn't do it."

"I knew bringing up the way he was killed would also implement me to being on the suspect list too," Jude said. "All I can say is that I'm not the murderer."

"I'm not either," Senel snapped.

"So how are we supposed to figure out which one of them it is?" Lloyd asked.

"Right now, it's a thirty-three percent chance that we'll get the right one," Kanonno said.

"Or the blackened is someone else who's lying," Velvet suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Sorey quickly asked.

"Obviously the killer knows how Cress was killed," she started to explain. "So if they were smart, they would have lied about their fighting style to avoid suspicion."

Velvet made a good point. Sorey still didn't want to think it was someone here. He still hoped that somehow it was Monokuma. But honestly, it was pointing out to be someone here.

"You had been awfully quiet this whole time Velvet," Asbel started to say. "Why would you speak up now?"

"I just don't want to die over something so stupid by blindly trusting that everyone's telling the truth," she said.

"So you are the killer, you're just trying to confuse us so you can get away with killing Cress," Luke shouted and pointed at Velvet.

"Dude, she wasn't even a current suspect," Kor said with a sigh. "So why would she be trying to confuse us?"

Luke fell silent and looked to be fighting back the urge to say something snarky.

"Anyway, going back to the method Cress was killed," Veigue began. "We might be able to figure out who the killer is since we're all on the same level."

"You're talking about the Monokuma bracelets, right?" Sorey asked as he started getting the same idea Veigue must be having.

He nodded. But Lloyd soon added, "Is that what we're really calling them?"

And it was Monokuma that answered. "We sure are," he called out. He had been so quiet since this trial started that it startled a lot of them. "That is now the official name of them. I'm so flattered that you'd name them after me."

"...Anyway," Yuri started to say as he went on to ignore Monokuma. "With these bracelets, we're all simple humans. In order to do that to Cress without a weapon, artes, or any other special powers, they'd have to already have some natural strength to them," he summed up.

"Not only that," Jude quickly added, "but without artes or power, that means the body has to absorb the impact as well."

"They'd absorb the impact? Do you mean they got hit in the head too?" Stahn asked as he was clearly confused.

"N-no, that's not what I meant at all," Jude tried to clarify. He clearly wasn't expecting that response.

"He means when you throw a punch, you're just as likely to break something yourself versus the person getting hit," Yuri quickly explained.

"Oh, Dr. Jude you should have just said that," Stahn said with a wide grin.

"I'm pretty sure I did say that," Jude muttered. He then quickly recomposed himself. "And I'm not a doctor yet, so you can just call me Jude."

Sorey started to piece together what Jude was saying. "Anyway, Jude, you're saying that the whoever killed Cress would have hurt their hand in the process?"

"Exactly," Jude remarked. "Judging by the impact, I'd say they at least broke a few fingers at least if not their whole hand."

"So if everyone shows their hands then, we'll know who the culprit is because theirs would be injured," Asbel declared.

"I just want to clarify something with the bear," Velvet interrupted. "Healing artes are impossible, correct?"

"But we clarified that yesterday when Jude said he couldn't use healing artes," Lloyd started to defend.

"I just want to make sure," Velvet grumbled. "He's the most suspicious one here if he can us healing artes. He could distort any evidence."

"You're doubting Jude?" Milla asked.

"Not just him, but everyone else here," Velvet said in a threatening tone. "This is a game with our lives on the line. The second you blindly trust someone you're just going to stabbed in the back."

Velvet wasn't just talking about this killing game. Sorey just stared at Velvet. He could see how visibly angry she was and how much hatred she had. He wondered briefly if she would be a hellion in he had his resonance. But he really wondered what in the world could have happened to cause her to be like this.

"Geez, you all keep going around in circles," Monokuma interrupted. "There is no way for anyone to use healing artes, healing items, or other thing you people use to instantly heal injuries. After all, this wouldn't be a good killing game if you could save someone from death."

Sorey hated to admit it, but that made sense. If the goal was to kill someone, then having a way to save them wouldn't be ideal. So he knew that Monokuma was telling the truth about that.

"Alright, just to be fair, let's just have everyone show their bare hands," Yuri suggested and held up his. They didn't show any signs of having been in a fight.

Everyone else agreed and those wearing gloves starting taking them off to show they hadn't been in a fight. They all held up their hands and everyone's looked well.

All except one person.

Senel wouldn't even take off his gloves.

"Hey come on Senel, show us you're not the culprit," Lloyd quickly cried out.

"My hands are already busted from punching that stupid door yesterday, remember?" Senel snapped back. "Obviously it looks like I did it when I didn't."

That was true. Sorey was pretty sure he saw that Senel's knuckles were bleeding. He probably even broke something. But, Sorey just had this sinking feeling now that he thought about Senel being the culprit.

"Remember, I examined your hands yesterday," Jude began. "I have a pretty good memory, so I remember the extent of your injuries. I'll know just by looking if you've gotten any new ones."

Senel was quiet and was holding his dominant hand. It was very possible that his hands were just hurting from hitting that metal slab the day before. But his hands would be in worse shape it if had used them to hit Cress. There was no telling the pain he was in if that was the case. His hands were trembling slightly from the pain. No, that's not right...

"With your hands already injured," Jude began, "you probably shattered several bones in your hand after killing Cress. The hand you threw the punch probably has a lot of discoloration. In fact, putting those gloves on probably hurt like hell. Am I right?"

"Yeah, they hurt. But it was from yesterday," Senel continued to argue. "I didn't kill him. I couldn't have." Senel's voice trailed off at the end. "Besides, you don't have any proof. It's not like anyone saw me."

"You feel guilty, don't you Senel?" Sorey suddenly asked. Senel actually paused and looked Sorey squarely in the eyes. Sorey was right, he could tell by the bewildered look Senel gave him. And that made Sorey feel worse. He could keep his mouth shut. He didn't want it to be anyone. He didn't want to lose anyone else. But if they didn't get this right, then fourteen people would be killed. He had to protect those he was able to. _I'm sorry Senel._ Sorey thought bitterly.

"I agree with Yuri's assessment, Cress' murder was an impulsive one," Sorey went on to explain. He didn't want to accuse, he wanted to get him to confess. At least that way, he could save Senel in one regard. "I know you didn't want to kill Cress or probably even mean to. It just happened, right? Like the rest of us, you must have been thinking about getting out. And that's the only thing you were thinking of when it happened."

Senel had torn his eyes off of Sorey and was looking down. He slammed his non-dominant hand in front of the podium in front of him. "Yeah, I want out of here. But so does everyone. So that proves nothing."

"Sorey, it's no use. If he's the culprit, he's not going to just confess it," Yuri tried to tell him. "Not when his life would be at stake like the rest of ours."

 _No, that's wrong,_ Sorey thought. "Senel, I can see you're in pain, but it's not physical. You're wrought with guilt over killing Cress."

"Sorey, do you really think you can guilt him into confessing?" Asbel asked. "He could just be a cold-blooded murderer after all."

"Yeah, none of us know each other," Veigue pointed out. Everyone else was pretty certain that it was Senel at this point. But they all wanted to hear him confess.

Sorey had no intention of guilting anyone to confessing. There was one simple reason why he was bringing this up. "Monokuma said that we're all heroes," Sorey told him plainly. "If that's true, then this ordeal must be tearing Senel apart."

"Again Sorey?" Yuri said. "Monokuma could have been lying. You can't be this naive."

He just gave Yuri and the others a weak smile. "I guess that's just who I am," he told them. "Until proven otherwise, I chose to believe that everyone is honest. I think in a situation like this, there are some things you need to hang onto to stay sane. For me, I want to believe that everyone here is a trustworthy person and, though Monokuma is a bad guy, that everything he says is the truth. I lived my life trusting others. So that's the reality I'm making for myself in this place."

"I'm so touched by that display of trust," Monokuma suddenly interrupted.

"Shut up," Velvet muttered to the bear. Somehow, that caused Monokuma to drop his head.

There was a brief moment of silence. Sorey was aware he probably did sound foolish. But he would lose his mind if he couldn't stay the same.

"Geez," he heard Yuri mutter as he rubbed his head. "In an environment like this, you're just setting yourself up to be a victim."

"I know," Sorey admitted. "But at least, I get to be myself until the end."

"But Monokuma is a liar," Senel suddenly said. His head was still down. "Heroes? Don't make me laugh. I'm not a hero. Never was and never plan to be. So why try…" Senel then stopped and Sorey could see that he was gritting his teeth. "Damn it all," he suddenly shouted and punched the podium again with his non-dominant hand. He then started pulling his glove off with a few more curse words said in the process.

His hand was just as Jude said it was. They could see that several bones were broken in his hand and it was bruised. Several of them gasped at that. Even Sorey could tell that it wasn't the same as yesterday when Jude first tended to his wounds. Senel had kept using his hands.

Senel just kept his hand up but slumped down to where his head rested on the podium. "There, I confess. This class trial is over, right?" Senel asked.

"Well if you all want to call it quits, we can start voting time," Monokuma said.

"What do you mean voting? He confessed?" Kor argued.

"Hey, it's tradition," Monokuma snapped. "Go to your e-handbooks and vote for who you think the blacken is. Those who don't vote will be punished too. Will you choose the right one or the dreadfully wrong one? Uphuhuh. The suspense is killing me," he laughed at the end.

The bear was just further torturing them by making them pick Senel even though he confessed. Voting made it feel more like pointing the finger rather than finding any kind of justice for Cress.

Sorey held up his e-handbook and, like Monokuma said, a screen with all their pictures came up. Sorey hesitated in voting. He then realized that by pushing the button was sealing Senel's death. They all knew they were right. But by voting, it was like it was okay to let Senel be killed just so they all could live.

Almost like he was knowing what was going on in Sorey's head, Senel snapped. "Just vote already," he shouted.

"I'm sorry," Sorey muttered as he pushed on Senel's picture.

The screen paused before it made a ringing noise. Then the words 'Congratulations' popped up on the screen with confetti all around it.

Monokuma jumped from his set with a giant smile. "Man, that was a pretty quick trial. But you bastards got it right with all the votes. The blacken that murdered Cress Albane was none other than Senel Coolidge. Rejoice, you all get to live another day. Wipe those frowns off."

They were right. Sorey and others would survive this round. But at a cost of killing Senel. He did something wrong. Cress was dead because of him. Yet that didn't mean he deserved death himself.

"Why did you do it?" Asbel suddenly shouted. "Why did you kill Cress? We could have figured something out together."

Senel was still using the podium as support. He couldn't look any of them in the face. "Look, what's done is done, I killed him. Enough said," Senel said bitterly.

"We just want to understand," Jude said. "Please, just so we can prevent this from happening again."

There was a brief pause before Senel finally gave in. "Last night, I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in this place," he started. "I started wandering around the school hoping to find a way out. Then…I saw Cress at the entrance...with his back to me. I didn't think, I just saw my way out of this damn place." There was a lot of pain in his voice. He regretted killing Cress. Just as Yuri had said, it was a heat of the moment. Senel hadn't thought it through.

"What was so important that you'd be willing to kill someone though?" Lloyd asked.

"It's...It's my little sister. She was kidnapped by the Crusand army. I was on my way to save her, but then I ended up here instead," Senel shouted as he finally stood up. His eyes were frantic. Desperate. "I can't let them take her."

 _His sister was in danger,_ Sorey thought. Sorey couldn't imagine if one of his friends were in danger or hurt and then he was suddenly here. He definitely wouldn't be able to sit still. But then he came to sickening question, would he have done what Senel did so he could get out to help them?

"But we could have helped you," Stahn suddenly spoke up. "We could have gotten out of here together. And I'm sure we all could have helped you save your sister." Stahn seemed generally angry about all of this. In fact there were several that seemed to feel that way. Maybe they were thinking they could have prevented Senel from killing Cress. If they had just banned together. But instead the killing game started.

Sorey looked at Cress' picture and wondered if only one of them had just talked with Senel more, or not left Cress alone if he would still be standing with them. They at the very least could have spent the day finding a way out instead of finding out one of them was a murderer.

"Sorry, but this is something only I could have done," Senel told them. He seemed to have composed himself.  
Before any of them could have told him otherwise. Monokuma interrupted. "Alright, enough talking, time for the most exciting part of the game." Monokuma talked and he seemed to be getting more and more excited as he talked. "I've prepared a very special punishment for the Hero of Legendia, Senel Coolidge."

"Screw that," Senel suddenly snapped. "I'm not dying here. I have to go save Shirley."

With a quick pivot, Senel ran toward the door. He was so quick that he even tackled the double doors open and didn't stop. There was shouting going on. Everything was happening so quick that it took Sorey a moment to realize that they were shouts urgering Senel to escape.

He had killed Cress. But none of them wanted to watch him die too. So Sorey found himself shouting too. "Run Senel!"

It would have been nice if Senel could have gotten out. And that he could save his sister. But as Sorey would learn, it was better not to hope for miracles in this place. If any of them had actually thought that Senel could have escaped his fate for a second, they would have gone too. But everyone stayed in their places.

The doors had slammed behind Senel as soon as he was past them.

A screen was lowered in front of the door.

And Monokuma started laughing. "Uphuhuhuh," he started as button raised up in front of him. "There's no escaping you're punishment. IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" Monokuma pulled out a hammer behind his back and slammed it on the button that had raised in front of him.

The screen lit up and they could see Senel running through the hall.

/~/~/

Senel was running down the hall as fast as he could. It seemed to be never ending. Suddenly the floor beneath Senel's foot dropped. His reflexes were amazing as he jumped back in time before the small section completely fell. It crumbled to reveal that there were spikes underneath the floor.

Senel only looked at the pit briefly before continuing on. He ran as more and more of the floor started crumbling all round him. But he managed to sidestep or jump in time to avoid each of them.

Just as a door appeared in front of him that looked like natural light flooding through it. Senel looked like he had grown tired and seeing the door renewed his energy. When he took a step toward it. The floor between him and the door collapsed with the spikes at the bottom. He was so close, but it was too far a jump to make. You can see that he was thinking of a way to get himself across.

But he wasn't given time at all. The path behind him started to slowly fall. If he didn't do something then he would fall. His eyes darted to his escape just as a small blue butterfly flew across his face. There's some kind of figure standing in front of the door that was glowing. It's someone Senel knows, you can tell the way his eyes light up seeing them.

He takes a few steps back and, before the floor started to fall underneath him, he dashed toward edge. Senel ran as hard as he could. It was almost like he was out running the floor falling behind him. At the very edge of, Senel leaped into the air with all his might. He made good air. In fact it almost looked like he was going to make.

And indeed he did. His hand caught onto the floor on the other side.

But he had caught the edge with his dominant hand.

The second his hand held his weight, you can see pain shook his entire body. His broken hand had no choice but to let go. And Senel fell.

His hand was still outstretched like he was hoping someone would take it and save him. There was a look of desperation on his face.

But just before he reached the bottom, he closed his eyes as the same blue butterfly landed on his chest. His last moments were spent in acceptance for what was about to happen.

Then the spikes ran right through him.

/~/~/

The screen lingered on Senel's body for a moment. But it felt like an eternity before the screen went black. Sorey was frozen, he just stared at the blank screen. It didn't feel real. They had watched Senel die in real time.

Nobody had talked at all while they watched and even now no one was talking with anyone. A few were crying. But for themselves or for Senel, Sorey couldn't tell. Kanonno was down on her knees sobbing. Luke was curled up on the ground and kept muttering, "I want to go home" over and over. Emil had collapsed to the ground and visibly shaking. He may not have even realized he was on the ground. Most everyone else had a look of horror on their face.

"Oh man, I'm sure glad he did exactly what I expected him to do," Monokuma said as he laughed. He was laughing so hard that he was holding his stomach.

"You knew Senel would try to run?" Milla asked angrily.

Monokuma smiled after he ceased his laughter. "But of course. Angry guys that answer everything with their fists like Senel are so easy to read and to predict their movements."

Sorey wasn't sure what he should do. He was horrified by what he just saw and was angry. But he was more angry at himself for not being able to do anything to stop this. He was so powerless. And he hated himself for it.

"Before you all are dismissed," Monokuma started to say. "I want you all to know how disappointed I am with the way this trial went."

"What more did you want from us?" Veigue asked. "We got the culprit. Weren't you saying earlier about how important justice was to you?"

"Well of course, that is the goal," Monokuma said with his head cocked to the side. "But what's better? Just doing the bare minimum on an assignment to get an A or going out of your way to impress the teacher so much that they just fall over and die."

Those that weren't still reacting to what happened to Senel just looked at Monokuma with a mix of disgust and confusion. But Monokuma wasn't phased in the slightest. Instead he just went on with his rant. "Be sure you make the next murder and trial a bit more interesting. Let's have some twists and turns next time. I want to see backstabbing and minds blown. Come on people, let's see some excitement."

"And why should we do anything just to please you?" Asbel shouted.

"How about this then," Monokuma began with is head to the side again, "if the next trial is as boring as this one, I'm going to have to add some penalties or something to help spice it up. This is not what people are expecting when they get to the trial part of this game."

/~/~/

Sorey laid on his bed. He could get neither Senel or Cress' images out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them. They were gone. He felt so useless for the fact that he hadn't been able to save either of them. It wasn't fair.

He didn't know either of them well. But he knew they didn't deserve that. Cress was such a nice guy. Senel, he may have been pretty rough, but he wasn't a murderer. No one would be dead if it wasn't for Monokuma. If he hadn't done this, they would have all lived their lives. If they could all focus of seeing Monokuma as the villain and not get caught up in this stupid killing game, then there was a chance nobody else would die.

Suddenly Sorey could hear his door start to open and he quickly sat up fully alert. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. But he certainly wasn't expecting to see Yuri standing on the other side of the door with an annoyed look on his face.

"Sorey, I told you to start locking your door," Yuri said after a sigh.

Sorey scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I guess it just slipped my mind."

Yuri closed the door and entered Sorey's room. He had his arms crossed as he said, "I guess you're still thinking about what happened at the trial."

Sorey didn't say anything. He wondered if those images would haunt him forever. Sorey did nothing. And that was the problem. He had done nothing. He felt like he failed Cress and Senel.

"We survived, Sorey," Yuri said seeing Sorey's reaction. "In the end, that's all that matters."

"I know," Sorey said as he recalled Yuri saying that earlier that day. "But-"

"Look," Yuri interrupted, "I can't say much about Cress and Senel. But I know Cress wanted everyone to survive. When I was with him last night, he told me he didn't want to watch anyone else die in such a pointless way again."

"What do you think he meant by that?" Sorey asked.

Yuri just shrugged. "Who knows. There's no way to know what had happened to him before we all got into this. I mainly just told you that so that way you'd keep your guard up and not mope around and become the next victim."

Sorey couldn't let that happen. Not because he didn't want to die, but if he became the victim then there would be a class trial and someone else would be killed. Sorey wondered if that was what Yuri was getting him to realize. He needed to make sure he stayed on his guard. It was small, but that would at least be his part in preventing another class trial. "Thanks Yuri," Sorey said. There was still a dark cloud over him. But he did feel a little more hopeful.

Yuri started walking out. "Thank me by locking your damn door when you're asleep, got it?"

/~/~/

 _Chapter 1: The Killing Game Starts. Goodbye Trust Ends_

 _Contestants Remaining: 14_


	5. Chapter 2

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that we all have a great 2019!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Budding Friendships Leave To The Biggest Betrayals**

Sorey was abruptly awoken again by Monokuma's morning announcement again. He practically jumped from the bed. He mainly jumped because he came out of one nightmare and into another one.

Once awake, he just sat on the bed and thought about the events that transpired the previous day. There were fourteen of them left. Just two days ago, there were sixteen of them. It was terrifying to think about how quickly they've already lost some. Yesterday, he had woken up, expecting the day to be full of looking for a way out of this place. And instead, they found Cress' body and watched Senel die.

After slapping his cheeks, he got up out of bed. It was a new day. Maybe they could figure something out today.

This morning, he took a moment to explore his room more. He already knew about the bathroom and finally noticed the third door in the room. Like he had heard, it was a closet that was filled with identical clothes to what he was wearing. Except there was one red shirt and black and white Shephard's cloak. Why would there be an alternate color to what he was wearing? Plus the color scheme didn't seem very Shephardly. In fact, it looked a little...hellish…

What really made Sorey think was the fact that there were multiple Shephard cloaks. Alisha had his made. So how can there be this many perfectly duplicated? In fact, his entire outfit was handmade. How was there this many of his clothes that looked the exact same?

For now, he would just put it in the back of his mind for now, maybe he could ask the others about this. He quickly changed his clothes since he hadn't had a chance to clean up while he has been trapped in this place. Sorey didn't want to change clothes since Monokuma is the one that provided them, but being in an enclosed space might make whatever he smelt like more pungent. He also decided to forget his cloak. Being casual seemed more appropriate.

As he left his room, he immediately heard a commotion not far from him further down the dormitory hallway. Sorey's heart stop as he feared it was happening again. He practically sprinted down the hall. But listening to what the noise was for more than a second made Sorey realize it wasn't an emergency situation.

Standing outside of Luke's room, was Asbel, Jude, and Kanonno. Asbel was banging on Luke's door and shouting, "Come on Luke. You can't stay in there forever."

"Is something wrong with Luke? Is he okay?" Sorey quickly asked. The situation didn't seem serious, but he still feared the worst.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Jude commented. "I was beginning to wonder if we needed to check on you too."

"We're having a meeting this morning so we're gathering everyone up," Kanonno began to answer. "But Luke refuses to come out. He's probably terrified."

Asbel banged on the door again and shouted through the door again. "I know you're in there Luke, just open the door."

Before Sorey could ask if they were sure Luke was in there and if he was okay, he got his answer. "Why, so you can kill me and get out of here? Just leave me alone," Luke shouted. His voice was pretty muffled, but Sorey could tell that Luke was scared.

"Luke, for the last time, Kanonno and Jude are with me, I wouldn't kill you with witnesses around," Asbel argued back.

"So you are thinking about killing me," they heard Luke argue back.

"Come on Luke, you're being ridiculous," Asbel tried to reason. "We're all in the same boat here, but we're not cowering in fear."

"J-just go away, leave me alone," Luke spat back.

He was scared, that was clear. Yesterday was horrible. It changed everyone. Sorey didn't know much about Luke, but it was clear that he must have lived a sheltered life. Regardless of Luke's backstory, Sorey couldn't blame the way Luke was acting. They were all trapped with total strangers where people have already been killed.

"What are we going to do?" Kanonno asked.

"Maybe it'd just be best if we leave him be," Jude suggested. "We just risk agitating him further. I'm sure he'll come out on his own eventually."

"I guess we'll take Dr. Jude's advice," Asbel agreed. He was probably getting tired of yelling.

Jude hung his head down. "I told you, I'm not a doctor yet," he muttered.

"Did you all get Luke?" A voice suddenly asked. It was Yuri walking toward them.

"He refuses to come out," Asbel told him.

Yuri let out a sigh. "That's not going to work," he muttered as he walked up to Luke's door. He knocked like any person would. "Hey Luke, breakfast is getting cold because we're waiting on you," Yuri said in his regular tone.

"Leave me alone," Luke shouted. "You're just trying to kill."

"See, we've tried to reason with him," Asbel pointed out.

Yuri didn't act like he heard Asbel. He went on to say, "Fine, I just thought you'd be hungry. None of us have really eaten since yesterday morning. You're probably not used to missing meals, so you'll probably start hurting soon." Yuri turned around and seemed to act like he was just going leave. Then he went on to say. "I just thought it would be better for us all to eat together so we won't have to worry about watching our backs. If you want to go to the kitchen letter and make your own food, that's fine. But you'll have to constantly be looking over your shoulder if someone decides to pick you off when you're alone."

There was a long pause. And just when it looked like Asbel was going to say something, Luke's door opened up. He didn't look like he slept at all or cleaned up. His hair was even messier than normal. Luke looked sheepish when he stepped out of his room, but he quickly narrowed his tired eye at them all. "D-don't even think about pulling one over on me. Alright," he quickly said in an annoying authoritative voice. It dawned on Sorey that Luke may have been used to ordering people around.

"I told you, breakfast is getting cold," Yuri commented as he started walking toward the cafeteria.

Luke quickly followed after Yuri, and the rest of them mused at the ease Yuri had at getting Luke out.

"I guess calmer threats work better with Luke," Kanonno offered to Asbel who looked defeated.

"Whatever, I am getting hungry though," Asbel muttered.

Sorey just chuckled a bit before he started to go with them. But he stopped when he saw that Jude wasn't moving. "Jude?" Sorey started to ask.

Jude seemed started but he shook his head. "Oh, it's probably nothing," Jude said with a weak laugh.

"Well it' not good to keep secrets," Sorey said. He was uneasy about whatever was on Jude's mind. He didn't want what happened yesterday to happen again.

But Jude kept a smile on. "It's really probably nothing. But…" Jude trailed off as he looked between Luke's door and his neigbor. "It's just I could have sworn that Cress' room was right next to Luke's."

Sorey looked. Lloyd and Kanonno were on either side of Luke's room. Sorey couldn't really say. When he walked down to Cress' room yesterday, he didn't pay much attention to the rooms he passed. "Well, at least there is a simple way of figuring it out," Sorey said as he pulled the e-handbook from his pocket.

It took him a moment to remember just where the school map was. When found it though, he looked as confused as Jude. "What the heck," Sorey said as he showed Jude. He couldn't find Cress' room at all on the map. And not just his room. Senel's too. Neither of their rooms were labeled.

"Maybe...because they aren't using the rooms anymore, Monokuma just deleted their names from the map," Sorey tried to reason.

Jude held his hand near his mouth to think. "I suppose. But I'm still pretty sure there's a room that's supposed to separate Luke and Lloyd's room."

/~/~/

Everyone had gathered in the cafeteria, even Velvet. But she didn't look happy about it. Everyone that was left sat at large table with plates of food in front of them. The breakfast plate looked delicious. However Sorey lost some of his appetite thinking that Monokuma must have made it.

Milla, Stahn, Yuri, and Ludger were the only ones who were actually eating it. In between bites, Milla looked at the ones not eating and said, "The rest of you should start eating, we're going to need to keep our strength up."

"I mean, it looks good," Lloyd started to say. "But if Monokuma made it-"

"Actually, I made it," Ludger said as he sheepishly raised his hand.

"Really?" Stahn said as he stuffed more food in his mouth.

"My compliments to the chief," Milla said.

Ludger then pointed at Yuri. "You should thank him too. He made breakfast yesterday."

Everyone looked at Yuri to see his usual nonchalant mood. He just shrugged. "What? I was up first. I figured I might as well make enough for everyone."

"Well that's better than Monokuma making food for us," Sorey said. He picked up a fork. He took a small bite. It really was delicious.

"How can you just blindly eat it?" Velvet asked. "What if it's poisoned?"

Before Sorey could say something, it was Yuri who answered him. "Only an idiot would try and kill someone when they're on cooking duty. Obviously that would make them suspect number one if someone else dies."

Very slowly, everyone started eating and even enjoying it a bit. There were some smiles on people's faces. Everything almost seemed normal.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Lloyd suddenly asked.

Everyone, but Velvet was eating. She had her regular demeanor and pushed her plate away. "Not hungry," she stated and gave Yuri a dark look. "Now, what was so important that you wanted to have this meeting for?"

The room was silent for a moment as Yuri just gave Velvet a cold look too. It was like the two of them were doing some kind of battle no one could see. But Yuri stood up. "Fine," he said. Then he slammed his hand on the table. "It's time to put your cards on the table. Does anyone have anywhere they need to be that they're willing to kill someone over?"

"You're talking about what happened with Senel, right?" Sorey asked.

"I think we can all agree Senel and Cress would likely still be alive if we had known about what Senel was going through," Yuri explained.

"Would that really have made a difference though?" Kanonno asked "I mean, it was his sister. He probably couldn't think straight knowing she was in danger."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty," Jude commented.

"Look, if we all want to survive we need to work together," Yuri told them. "So that might mean that we have to get close real quick. So I'll start by asking a question that's been bugging me. Jude and Milla, you two knew each other before we got here, didn't you?" He asked.

Everyone was still as they looked at Jude and Milla. Jude suddenly looked very scared and Milla didn't look much different from Velvet. "We were traveling together before we were trapped here," Milla answered. "Is there anything else you're trying to insinuate, Yuri?"

But then Luke jumped up from his seat so fast that his chair was knocked over and he pointed at them. "But that's no fair," he shouted. "Why did you get to bring someone you knew? Why…" Luke started to fluster and squatted down and held his head. He was trembling a little.

Sorey couldn't blame Luke's reaction. In fact, he felt a little similar. He still didn't wish for any of his friends to be here. But he couldn't deny that it would be a bit of a relief in someone he knew he could trust. Sorey had to stop himself from wondering any more about why Jude and Milla got to have that comfort.

"Does anyone else know anyone?" Yuri asked. "Ludger?" he said as he looked over at him.

Ludger looked a bit sheepish. He scratched the back of his head. Finally he said, "I had traveled with Jude and Milla, but I don't think they've traveled with me yet."

"Seriously, three of you are from the same place?" Kor exclaimed. "That really isn't fair."

"Wait, are you saying that you're from our future?" Jude asked.

"I guess so," Ludger said. "Jude, you do look a little younger than I remember you. Your hair is different too."

"Just what the hell is going on?" Jude muttered. "I can grasp us all from being from different worlds, but different times? How is that possible?"

"Anyone else want to admit they know anyone?" Yuri asked.

Everyone gave each other the same anxious looks. But no one said anything. Just then Sorey noticed that Emil flinched and kept looking at his lap.

He wanted to ask Emil what was wrong. However Velvet suddenly got up from her chair. "Is that all this all you wanted to talk about?" She asked Yuri.

Yuri wasn't fazed by her in the slightest. "Pretty much. But what about you?" He asked. "What's outside that makes you so desperate to get out?"

Velvet shrugged. "I've been in a cage for so long, I'm not thrilled to be in another one. But my main reason is because there is someone I have to kill. And I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he's dead."

 _How is she not a hellion?_ Sorey thought in horror. She had such a murderous rage in her eyes. Sorey felt that anger she held. It was even a little bit terrifying. If she just wanted to kill someone when she got out, then she probably wouldn't hesitate to kill someone in here.

"You all sure are a bunch of go getters," the voice of Monokuma said. That got all of their attention and they saw that Monokuma was now standing on the table. It started all of them and several of them jumped from their chairs.

"What the hell?" Asbel exclaimed as he looked like was going to pull out a sword, but then he must have remembered that he didn't have one the way he quickly moved to us fisticuffs instead.

"Seriously guys, I'm your headmaster, you should start showing me a little bit more respect. You know, like bowing to me," Monokuma said with his head hung low. "It's really hurtful every time you look at me like I'm some kind of monster."

"Then enter rooms like a normal person," Veigue said bitterly.

"And why should we pay you any respect when you're clearly the bad guy?" Lloyd said.

Monokuma cocked his head to the side. "Me, the bad guy? Are you still blaming me for Cress and Senel's death? Like I said before, I'm a stickler for the rules and Senel violated the rules by killing Cress. Even in your homes, Senel would have still been executed for his crimes. And before you say anything, I didn't make Senel do anything. That was all his own free will. I never even talked with him."

"Did you appear just to get philosophical on us or do you actually have a reason for being here?" Milla asked.

They probably would have kept going in circles trying to argue with Monokuma. It would probably be about the same as talking with a wall. A really annoying one.

"In fact, I did. I have an announcement I wanted to make in person," Monokuma said. "I forgot to mention this earlier. Each time you survive a class trial, you get a reward. Are you ready for it? Drum roll please."

Nobody even moved and kept looking at Monokuma with contempt in their eyes. Sorey certainly didn't want some prize for surviving. Monokuma hung his head down again. "You guys are no fun," he muttered. Then he raised his head and held up an e-handbook. "If you wouldn't care to check out the map."

Ludger was the first one to open his e-handbook and get to the map. "There's a second floor to the school now," he said in disbelief.

"That's right. Each time you survive, more of the school will be open to you. So congratulations."

Again, no one said anything. No one was excited. Monokuma hung his head low once again. "You all are a tough crowd. Ungrateful bastards," he muttered as he jumped off the table and waddled out of the room.

Silence still hung in the air for a little while as everyone viewed the new addition to the school. What else could there be? And more importantly, what was Monokuma planning?

Suddenly Yuri started moving around the table. "Well I'm going to check it out."

"Are you crazy? What if it's a trap?" Asbel said.

Yuri just shrugged. "I'd rather spring the trap then be uneasy about what's on the second floor."

"Yuri's right," Milla said as she got up. "There could be more clues about our situation. It's worth checking out."

One by one they all agreed they needed to search the new area. Even if it was false, it gave them just a little bit of hope that they might find a way out of this hell. That was the best way they could survive.

/~/~/

The stairs to the second floor was now open and everyone walked up to a floor that looked very similar to the first one. The windows were still sealed and there were more fake lights. There was another staircase as soon as they walked up, but it was closed off with a grate in front of it.

It was decided that they would split up to cover more ground. Sorey walked into the first room and his eyes went wide with wonder. It was a large library with so many books. Sorey knew that at Lady Lake there was large library and that the castle probably held more books, but he never got a chance to see them. So he had no choice but to stare in awe. He had never seen so many books in one place. There were rows and rows filled with bookshelves.

There were plenty of long tables for studying purposes and lamps to make sure everything was seen properly. Sorey quickly walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book titled _No Longer Human_. Sorey had almost expected the book to be a fake with just pictures of Monokuma. But it was a real book. His smile grew. He hoped that he would be allowed to borrow some of these books. They would be a nice distraction if he found himself unable to sleep.

"You a bookworm too?" Yuri's voice suddenly asked.

Sorey quickly put the book back. "That's probably accurate to say. I've just never seen so many books before. The amount of information that's in this room is amazing."

Yuri actually started to chuckle slightly. It startled Sorey because he was sure it was the first time he heard Yuri laugh. "Yuri?" He asked.

Yuri must have realized that and he quickly returned to his normal demeanor. "Sorry, you just reminded me of a friend of mine. Her eyes lit up exactly like yours when she talked about books. She'd get so absorbed in them she wouldn't be able to hear anything I said. I'm sure the two of you would be good friends."

It was the first time Sorey got to hear Yuri talk about his life outside of the school. He wasn't sure why, but that made Sorey happy. Maybe it was because they were getting closer to becoming friends. So he nodded. "When we get out of here, you'll have to introduce us. I've got another friend who she would get along with too." _That is if they can see Mikleo_ , Sorey thought.

"Sure, the three of you can form a book club, I'm sure she'd love that," Yuri said casually as he started walking out.

"Going already?" Sorey asked.

"Yeah, seeing all these books is giving me a headache," he replied. He stopped briefly and looked at Sorey before saying, "If you're anything like my friend, you should leave this room too. You'll probably end up reading rather than looking for clues."

"Right," Sorey said sheepishly. He couldn't deny how tempting it was to just pull some books and start reading. Especially since he could see some titles that looked to be about ruins. Emil, Kanonno, and Ludger were also in the library looking around. They didn't seem like they would get caught up with books like Sorey would.

So he left it to them and made a note to come back later.

There were three more classrooms on this floor and Kor, Asbel, and Lloyd volunteered to search those rooms. So Sorey and Yuri went a little further down the hall to white double doors.

When they entered, the room looked so unreal. There were many tables with all kinds of glass tubes and equipment on each of them. There were all kinds of cabinets with ingredients and more bottles. Jude, Milla, and Stahn were already there searching.

"Ah, Yuri, Sorey. Welcome to the science lab," Jude said.

"I guess this room makes you feel right at home," Yuri said to Jude.

Jude gave a weak smile. "I wouldn't go that far. But it does bring back some memories of med school."

"So with this stuff, do you think we could make gels or something?" Sorey asked as he looked at the beakers and the materials inside them.

"It's possible," Jude said. "I'd have to look more into it though and see what all is stocked here."

"I'm a bit more concerned with what's already prepared," Yuri commented.

"They look like panacea bottles," Stahn said as he was looking through one of the cabinets. He picked up one of the bottles and held it up.

"Stahn, that's not a panacea bottle, that's poison," Jude quickly said.

That startled Stahn so bad the he ended up dropping the poison and it shattered on the ground. "Sorry," Stahn said.

"Actually that was a good move," Milla said.

"Yeah, we should probably smash the rest just to be safe," Yuri said.

"Good call," Sorey agreed. This was so easy to get a hold of. In their situation, it was dangerous to have them out for anyone to get.

Before any of them could pull another one off the shelf, Monokuma suddenly jumped in front of them. "Hold it right there," he growled. "Destroying school property is prohibited."

"There is no such rule," Milla stated.

"There is now," Monokuma said simply.

Sorey felt his pocket vibrate and he found that it was the e-handbook. On the screen the words "Notification Alert" popped up.

There was a new rule.

 **School Rule # 14** : Attempting to break into locked rooms or purposely destroying school property is strictly prohibited. Destroying evidence is promoted.

"So you see, I can't allow you just go around destroying things. This isn't a school for delinquents after all," Monokuma replied.

Stahn started shaking. "Does that mean I have to face a punishment?"

Monokuma tilted his head like he was thinking. "As tempting as it would be, what you did was clearly an accident. Just don't make it a regular thing. There are only so many "accidents" a person can have before it turns lethal."

With that Monokuma waddled out of the room and as soon as he was out the door, Yuri rushed out and looked both ways in the hallway. "And he's gone," Yuri commented.

"Seriously, where does Monokuma go when he's not talking with us?" Stahn asked.

"I think the bigger question is what even is Monokuma?" Milla pointed out.

 _That's right, just what is Monokuma,_ Sorey started to wonder. He had to be some kind of spirit. Maybe a strong type of seraphim with the way he was just able to appear and disappear whenever. But unless they had more information about him, there wasn't much speculation could do at this point. They still had no way of fighting him.

"Well, whatever," Yuri muttered. Then he looked back at them. "So Jude, do you think we should keep a guard here at all time?"

That was a good point. With such dangers at such an easy access, it would be too tempting. But to have someone standing guard all the time. It could be just as dangerous and nerve racking for the one guarding.

Jude seemed to think similar. "That might be overboard. If we start blocking dangerous things then that could just escalate things."

"Alright, as long as we're in agreement," Yuri said with a shrug. "It would be a pain if we had to gather all of dangerous stuff in the building."

"Plus I have a feeling Monokuma would just give us more dangerous items if we tried to hide them," Milla summed up.

"Who would have thought we would have been safer with poison and knives out," Yuri commented. He looked at Jude again. "Anything else interesting win this lab?"

Jude shook his head. "No, it's just a basic chemistry lab. Minus the ready made poison, this is like any lab a school would have."

"Really?" Sorey asked in disbelief. He'd never gone to school, so he could only imagine.

"Maybe in Jude's world," Yuri commented. "I think most of us had a simple education."

"Still so hard for me to wrap my head that all of us aren't even from the same world," Stahn commented. "What's the point in that? Seems like it would be easier for Monokuma to just takes us all from the same place."

"I guess that question is another mystery we have to solve," Sorey said.

/~/~/

Kor, Asbel, and Lloyd had checked the three classrooms that were on this floor and there didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. They looked just like the ones on the first floor and they also had the windows sealed. Sorey was at least hoping that they would be able to see out one window. But the three of them were determined to find something in those rooms.

There was just one more room left on this floor, and Yuri was with Sorey to check it. Yuri had said he just wanted to see all the rooms for himself. Sorey ended up just following Yuri. There wasn't much he could learn from the lab since Jude was looking into it and had a much better understanding of it then Sorey could grasp.

Yuri slid the door open and there was a wide area with a wooden floor. There were some lockers and there were a few of what looked like training dummies and archery targets. It looked like a dojo to learn martial artes. Sorey had read and heard about dojos, but he'd never actually been to one. Of course the time he got to actually be inside of one would be in this hell hole.

Veigue and Luke were already inside looking through the lockers.

"There's nothing but useless junk in here," Luke complained.

"Well keep looking, it might be here," Veigue ordered in a calm tone.

"Did you two lose something?" Sorey asked.

Luke turned angrily toward Sorey. "Monokuma told us there was a real weapon hidden in here. We've got to find it before that woman does."

"You mean Velvet?" Sorey asked.

"Duh, who else?" Luke said as he folded his arms. "If she gets a weapon, she'll definitely kill someone."

"Have you thought about what you would do with it once you find it?" Yuri asked.

Luke started scratching the back of his head. "Well…" he trailed off. Before he could come up with anything, there was a crash the took all their attentions.

Veigue opened the locker at the end and all kinds of weapons fell out. There were a mixture of swords, arrows, and lances. Veigue didn't look nearly as startled by this as Luke was who ran over to them. "No way, there's so many of them. Monokuma said there was only one."

"These aren't it," Veigue said.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked in frustration. Even Sorey was a little curious.

Yuri walked over and picked up one of swords. "The worst these might do is leave a nasty bruise or a scratch."

"They're just training weapons?" Sorey asked. "They look so real."

"Yeah, the blades are so dull I think it would take good blacksmith to get them to even be used as cutting knives," Yuri answered. He swung the blade around like a test swing.

"They're about as deadly as any other thing in this place," Veigue commented.

"Yeah, well they can probably still be used to hurt someone," Luke said. "We need to do something, otherwise that crazy woman is going to kill us with them."

"The crazy woman, better not be me you're talking about," a woman's voice suddenly said. They all looked and saw that Velvet had just walked in. She was in her normal scary look. Sorey actually jumped a bit. "Velvet," Sorey said instinctually. Then he thought to quickly redirect the conversation. "Did you happen to find anything?"

But Velvet ignored him and walked over to where all the practice weapons were. Her face remained passive as she looked. "Are these just for decoration or does the bear really think any of us would actually use them to kill one another."

The room went very still for a moment. Even Luke was speechless. But Yuri didn't seem fazed in the slightest. He turned the sword he was holding in his hand like he was testing the weight of it. "Well this would a poor excuse for a training gym if there was nothing to train with," he said casually. Then he looked at Velvet with a more serious look. "You said you used a sword yesterday. What do you say? Feel like having a little spar?"

Again there was some tenseness in the air between Velvet and Yuri. However Velvet just folded her arms. "No thanks. Unlike like the rest of you, I'd rather keep some secrets," she told them.

"Suit yourself," Yuri said with a shrug as he tossed the practice into one of the lockers.

The tense air remained. Sorey again thought about trying to redirect the conversation. "Velvet, we're all meeting in the cafeteria later to talk about what we found on this floor. You should come too."

"Sorey," Luke said between gritted teeth. He gave Sorey such an annoyed look. But there was a little bit of fear behind his eyes. Veigue even seemed a little tense as he was knelt next to the locker were all the weapons fell out. And he normally had such a calm air about himself similar to Yuri.

But Velvet didn't pay any mind to them. "And why would I want to divulge any information learned? It might give me the advantage I need for this game."

"But what if it's a clue to get us out of here?" Sorey argued. He was trying so desperately to get through to Velvet.

"When are you all going to learn, the only way to get out is to play this stupid game and win," Velvet said darkly.

"That can't be our only option," Sorey said bluntly. "If we all work together-"

"Someone dies," Velvet told them. "Cress died because he trusted everyone. Then we all worked together and Senel was killed. There's no point in working together."

"Ostracizing yourself is another good way of getting killed," Yuri pointed out. "At least when we're in a group we know no one is dumb enough to murder someone with witnesses."

"For me, I feel much safer not having to worry that I'll be betrayed," Velvet told them plainly. "Why don't we agree just to stay out of each other's way?" She had asked, but she walked out of the room before any of them could respond.

Sorey wanted to run after her. But looking at Yuri, he could see that it might not be a good idea. Velvet was still adjusting. She could do something reckless like Senel. He knew Yuri would tell him not to be an easy target.

"Are really just going to leave her like that?" Luke asked.

"What, do you want to tie her up or something?" Yuri asked.

"Well yeah. She's obviously going to kill someone. It'll be safer for everyone," Luke pointed out.

"Or just make her distrust us even more," Yuri said. "We're already enemies in her eyes. If we confine her, it'll just make it worse."

"I agree," Sorey said. "I'm sure Velvet just needs more time before we can become friends."

"Well I wouldn't go that far Sorey," Yuri muttered.

Luke folded his arms. "Fine," he pouted while still looking pissed.

"What about you Veigue?" Yuri asked.

But Veigue didn't respond right away. He was looking in one of the lockers. He suddenly looked at them. "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"Veigue?" Sorey asked. He didn't know him well, but it just seemed weird for him to space out like that.

"What should we do with Velvet?" Luke quickly asked. "Don't you think she's dangerous?"

Veigue just shrugged. "As long as you're not alone with her, she'll be harmless."

"Do you have any other thoughts?" Yuri asked.

"No, I'll go along with whatever the rest of you decide," Veigue answered.

There was a brief moment when Veigue and Yuri just stared at each other. It was like both of them were trying to find some hidden meaning in the other. But before Sorey could discern anything, Yuri just shrugged and waved his hand. "Whatever, let's just clean up here and meet up with the others to talk about what we found."

They put the practice weapons in the lockers and went back to the cafeteria to join the others. There, they all shared what they found. They gained more space and things to do. But they were no closer to finding a way out of here.


	6. Chapter 2 Daily Life

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Daily Life**

 _Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong._

The familiar ringing made Sorey jump up from his bed. He still wasn't used to that sound and it was a cruel way to wake up. It reminded him of the situation he was in. He needed to start waking up before the morning announcement. Waking up with a jolt every morning couldn't be healthy.

" _Ahem, good morning everyone,"_ he could hear Monokuma clearing his throat. " _Would everyone please report to the cafeteria asap. I have a special announcement to give in person. So attendance is mandatory."_

The announcement clicked off. Sorey just groaned. What did Monokuma want this time?

Sorey quickly got ready for the day and headed to the cafeteria. He didn't want to test what would happen if he disobeyed Monokuma.

He could already hear and smell that people were already eating. But he saw that Emil was standing right outside the cafeteria. He was looking nervously into the dining room.

"Hey Emil, you okay?" Sorey asked which had caused Emil to jump and Sorey was startled by his reaction too.

"O-oh Sorey," Emil stuttered. He immediately lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Sorey asked in genuine confusion.

Emil held his hands together and just kept looking nervous. "I'm sorry, I've even been jumping at my own shadow."

"Given our situation, I can understand that," Sorey tried to say in good humor. But that didn't relax Emil in the slightest. He still looked like he was about to scream in terror. _He's also a hero?_ Sorey thought in disbelief. But he quickly dropped the thought. It wasn't right the think that. Not everyone can keep their cool in this situation.

"Emil do you mind if I ask you something?" Sorey asked. It was a question he had been wondering about since the yesterday morning. He knew he saw Emil react when Yuri asked everyone if they knew someone. Emil at least recognized someone and Sorey just had a nagging feeling about it.

"W-what is it?" Emil asked. Why in the world did he sound so nervous?

'"Do you know anyone? I mean, did you know them previously before we were all trapped here?" Sorey clarified.

"N-no, I don't know anyone here," Emil muttered. He then turned around to ask, "Besides, why is that so important to know?"

Sorey started to get the feeling that Emil was maybe just a nervous person by nature. "Maybe we can see if there was some kind of pattern or something in the reason why we're trapped here." Monokuma had said they had been chosen. There was a reason for that. So maybe if they looked into why Jude, Milla, and Ludger all seem to come from the same place, then maybe-

"I'm just a mistake," Emil suddenly said. "Monokuma must have gotten the wrong guy. I'm not heroic in the slightest."

Emil didn't even wait for Sorey's response and quickly hurried into the cafeteria. While Sorey had had that same thought, he did feel a little bad that Emil wondered the same thing.

He then went into the dining room and saw that there were still a few people missing.

"Morning Sorey," Jude was the first one to greet him.

Sorey gave the same greeting. "Where's everyone else?" he then asked. Those that were there were sitting at a table with a small plate of food while Milla had the biggest. Even Velvet was here. But she was standing with her back against the wall. It was clear the only reason she was here was because of Monokuma's announcement.

"Asbel and Kor went to go wake up Stahn so he wouldn't face any punishments for being late," Kanonno answered.

"What about Yuri?" Sorey asked. He didn't see him yet.

"Just discovering the bottomless pit that is Milla's stomach," Yuri's voice suddenly called out. It wasn't long before he emerged from the from the kitchen area with a large tray of food. When he sat it down, Milla made some unintelligible noises while she was stuffing more food in her mouth. It may have been something like "thank you."

"Seriously, if you're going to keep eating, you might as well work in the kitchen with Ludger and me so you can learn," Yuri muttered. "I feel like I'm cooking for a whole village." Yuri sounded like he was complaining, yet it looked like he had put a lot of effort into preparing the food.

Milla actually stopped eating briefly to say, "My only fear is that my cooking wouldn't be nearly as good as yours or Ludger's." Then she went right back to eating.

"You may want to get some food before Milla devours it all again," Ludger lightly joked.

"Seriously, I'm not cooking anymore today," Yuri announced. Then he looked over at Velvet. "You haven't eaten right, you better get some quick."

"Not hungry," Velvet muttered as she stayed in place.

Yuri just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Just don't ask me later to make you anything."

Velvet just seemed to roll her eyes at him. But Yuri didn't see it because he had his back to her. Not that he seemed like the type to care.

Just as Sorey sat down with a plate, Stahn, Asbel, and Kor walked in. Stahn still seemed like he was sleeping. "Mornin'" he muttered with a yawn at the end.

Asbel was rubbing his throat. "Okay, I am so done with yelling behind a door to get people out of their rooms," he complained.

"Seriously, that was exhausting, are we going to have to take turns waking Stahn up?" Kor continued to complain.

"Fine we'll make a wheel chart of chores and waking Stahn up will be one of them," Jude said as he started writing that down in a notebook.

"Speaking of which, who's cleaning the dishes, this morning?" Yuri commented.

"Maybe whoever is the last one to wake up should," Asbel suggested as he shot a glance at Stahn.

Stahn just started waking up as he smelt Yuri's food. But Asbel's comment went right over his head as he started eating just like Milla.

"Seems fair," Yuri commented.

A few people chuckled at that and Sorey even found himself laughing along with them. Despite whatever Monokuma may have planned for them, it was nice that everyone could interact with one another like in a normal situation. Sorey hoped that when they got out of this, they could still continue to be like this.

Any nice day dream Sorey may have had was quickly gone suddenly when he heard Monokuma. "Good morning everyone," the bear said in almost a cheer. He had just suddenly appeared in the doorway to the cafeteria.

The atmosphere immediately changed as everyone just gave Monokuma some kind of glare. No one wanted to ask Monokuma anything. They all just wanted this over with.

"Wow, tough crowd," the bear muttered with his head down. "And I was going to say it was so nice to see everyone's smiling faces this morning."

"What do you want?" Luke demanded.

"Glad you asked," Monokuma said with a smile. He hopped onto the table so he was center stage. "I want to make sure I get to use this one before one of you jumps the gun again."

Sorey felt his stomach turn. They all knew what was coming.

"So back by popular demand, it's time for the motive videos," the bear announced. "I had you gather here because we have to view the videos in the AV room, and I'm pretty sure most of you don't even know what that is. Worry not, I will guide you."

"What if we don't want to see these motive videos?" Jude quickly asked.

"Then you have to face a punishment," Monokuma pointed out plainly.

/~/~/

Everybody followed Monokuma. No one wanted whatever the motive videos were, but no one wanted whatever the punishment was. Sorey had a feeling it wasn't death; however, he wasn't going to test that theory.

The relaxed atmosphere they had just a few minutes ago was completely gone. It was replaced with sullen silence. Sorey hoped that after this, they would still be able to laugh like earlier again.

Monokuma had led them to one of the classrooms in the first floor. It was one that Sorey had thought looked weird. There were sixteen desk and all of them were in a circle and the desks were boxed in so you couldn't see your neighbor. Sorey had just assumed it was a testing room.

This time there were screens with their names on them. "Alright, find your name and put the headphones on," Monokuma ordered. "Once everyone is seated, the video will play automatically. See how easy I made it for you bumkins."

A few of them were hesitant. But one by one they all sat down with two empty chair remained vacant. Sorey found his seat and noticed that where they stood was the same as the class trial. Sorey placed the headphones over his ears as Monokuma instructed and waited. There were some that were taking a little longer, but he couldn't hear anything. The headphones must have canceled all noise. Sorey's stomach turned a bit. What were they about to watch that Monokuma wanted to make sure was only for their eyes?

It wasn't much long until Sorey's name vanished and the words "Motive Video" were replaced. Then he heard Monokuma's voice through the headphones. It was very unsettling. It sounded like Monokuma was right in his ear.

" _Back by popular demand, I introduce the motive video_ ," Monokuma's voice repeated from earlier.

Sorey's picture then appeared on the screen. " _Sorey [no surname], the hero of Zestriria,"_ Monokuma voice introduced.

So that was Sorey's title. He said something similar with Senel. Legendia or something. But what was a Zestrira? Was it some kind of town or something.

The image on screen changed to his hometown. He saw all the people he grew up with. " _Sorey has no biological family to speak of, but he was loved and raised by the village of Elysia. Everyone was family to him."_

 _How in the world does he know all this?_ Sorey wondered. The thought to the Monokuma report with all that information about Cress. Monokuma must have that same information on all of them.

Then there was picture of when he was younger with Mikleo and Gramps in Gramps' house. How in the world did Monokuma get a picture like that? To capture a seraphim's likeness, what kind of seraphic arte was needed?

 _"But the two most important people to Sorey are the seraphim that raised him and the one who grew up with him."_

Sorey's eyes went wide at the next picture. It was the same room in Gramps' house, but they weren't in there and there was instead a fire. It was consuming everything. And in the corner of the picture, was a hand. He couldn't see who it belonged to.

Then Monokuma appeared in front of the picture. " _What could have happened to them while Sorey was away? There's only one way to find out, you have to win the game. Upfufufuf."_ Monokuma laughed at the end and screen went black again.

Sorey stumbled to knock the headphones off his head. The video was over, but he was scared that he would hear more. He shut his eyes and closed his ears. It couldn't be real. _Gramps, Mikleo, everyone,_ he thought of them and every worst case scenario played in his mind. He would have been able to bear it in this hell hole. But he never thought something could have happened to his friends and family while he was here.

What did Monokuma do?

What happened while he was here?

He needed to get out.

He lingered on that last thought. What was he thinking?

But he didn't stay on that thought long. "Damn it," Sorey heard someone yell and a loud crash and the sound of someone kicking the desk.

When Sorey looked up, he saw that it was Yuri. His chair was one the ground and he was standing in front of his screen with a look Sorey had never seen before. It was a dark look that made Sorey freeze for a moment.

Then Yuri stormed out of the room. He practically kicked the door open and disappeared. "Yuri," Sorey called out. He quickly stood up to follow him. But when he did, he could see everyone else. Some of them were fighting back tears and others were already whimpering. They were in despair over what they saw.

All except for Velvet. She had the same disinterested expression she had all day.

Sorey felt conflicted. But he couldn't help all of them. He just needed to focus on what was right in front of him.

So he ran after Yuri.

It didn't take him long before he found him. Yuri was sitting on the stairs leading up to the second floor. He had a hand on his head like he was fighting a headache. He didn't seem like he noticed that Sorey had come up to him.

Sorey felt himself fidget a bit. He wasn't sure what he should say. He'd never seen Yuri like this, so what could he have seen? "Yuri?" Sorey said hesitantly.

That didn't startle Yuri. He just looked up at Sorey and looked like he was trying to act like he normally did. "Oh, Sorey, you need something?" It was so obvious that something was bothering him.

"What did you see?" Sorey just went on to say.

He could see that Yuri gritted his teeth and clench his fist. "It's gotta be fake," Yuri just said weakly. "Whatever you saw, you just need to keep it to yourself. You can't risk anyone using it against you. Monokuma made them a motive for a reason."

"I at least feel like I'm going to burst with worry," Sorey told Yuri honestly. He couldn't just keep it to himself. "I don't have a family. So I may not be able to relate to you and the others. But everyone in my village is my family. If anything happened to them because of me-"

"Sorey," Yuri interrupted. He then stood up. "I'm not saying I don't appreciate what you're trying to do. But you really need to worry about yourself, got it? I already messed up by showing how much that video affected me. Don't do the same."

It took a moment for Sorey to understand what Yuri was trying to say. If they showed that the motive videos weren't a big deal, then their loved ones or whatever they saw might stay safe. Maybe. But that might be too late. Everyone had a pretty strong reaction and Monokuma seemed to know all. He was even able to see the seraphim and capture their images.

"But are you okay?" Sorey then asked. He wanted to make sure Yuri didn't do anything impulsive.

Yuri wouldn't look at him. "I'd be lying if I told you I'm okay. I'll be fine though. Come on, we should see how everyone else is." Yuri started walking past Sorey, but then he stopped. "I guess I should share it with someone. Of course it would end up being you." Yuri took a deep breath before admitting, "I don't have a family either. So the people of my hometown raised me. So I feel the same as you do about them."

Sorey gave a surprised look at Yuri. He never would he have thought he and Yuri would have something like that in common. Although he guessed he shouldn't be thinking like that in a time like this.

Then Yuri turned and told Sorey in a serious tone, "Sorey, promise me you won't go talking about the motive videos to others."

"I wouldn't tell others what you just told me," Sorey quickly said.

"Well I appreciate that, but I'm telling you to keep your mouth shut about your own motive video," Yuri said. And seeing Sorey give him a confused look, he went on to explain. "Listen, if more people know about your motive, the more likely they could use it against you."

"But, how could we use them against one another?" Sorey asked. It wasn't like the others would be able to hurt the people in the videos.

"Not intentionally, but someone could say something that might trigger a nervous breakdown," Yuri explained.

"But with an attitude like that, you're just expecting the worse," Sorey pointed out.

"Well someone has to," Yuri began. "Sorey, we're in a killing game. You can't expect people to be on their best behavior. Some are liable to play dirty."

Sorey really didn't know what to say to that. He knew what Yuri was saying. But he still felt uneasy accepting it.

/~/~/

Sorey and Yuri found the others in the lobby of the dorm area. Everyone still looked like they had just seen a ghost. Everyone was in a circle looking at each other with a lot of skepticism. All except Velvet, she was standing against the wall with a rather board expression.

"Oh boy," Yuri muttered. Sorey understood what he was commenting on. The atmosphere wasn't good. It was similar to dinner they had right before Senel killed Cress. If they didn't do something...

"Everything is going to be okay," Sorey just blurted out.

A few people looked up at Sorey with the same expression.

However Asbel spoke up. "I don't fully agree with that sentiment, but it was at least clear from my motive video that whatever happened already happened to the people I care about."

"Are you trying to say that everyone we care about is already-" Kor started to say.

"Don't go there," Jude warned. "I'm sure none of us really know what we saw."

"I agree," Milla said. "It's clear that Monokuma just wants us to do something rash so we'd continue to play this game."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Veigue asked. "What are we supposed to do after what we saw?"

"We just need to find a way out of here together," Lloyd pointed out. "If we all work together, I'm sure Monokuma wouldn't be able to stand a chance."

"The only thing I'll say on the matter is this," Yuri start to say. "Remember, if you decide to do something drastic because of the video, it'll result in a lot of death."

There was silence that followed that sentence. It would at least result in two deaths. And that would be the better outcome. Nothing good comes from playing this game.

"It's Velvet, we really need to be worried about," Luke suddenly said with an accusing finger toward her. "This motive probably just gives her more reason to kill one of us."

"I didn't see anything," Velvet said plainly.

"Yeah, right," Luke said. "Monokuma had to give all of us a motive."

"Everybody I cared about is already gone. There's nothing left to threaten." She then started walking past them. "It must be nice to think you might still see them if you get out of here."

Sorey felt his heart tighten as he watched her walked away from the others. He wished there was something he could do, but there was nothing. Velvet was so alone and had harden her heart that there was nothing he could do to help. He couldn't understand what she was going through. Everyone fell quiet until Velvet was out of sight. Luke had look like he'd just been kicked to the ground. He must have been feeling a bit bad for what he said.

Suddenly it was Milla who said, "We just need to work together to get out of here. Then we will be there for our loved ones."

Sorey forced a smile. At least there was someone else thinking like he did. "Yeah, I'm sure we can do anything if we work together," Sorey said in agreement.

Most of the others didn't seem convinced. But everyone went back to their rooms without another incident.

/~/~/

Free time!

There was still some time left in the day. So Sorey decided to talk with Yuri some more.

"So what? Did you need to ask me something?" Yuri asked.

"No, I just thought we should talk some more," Sorey answered.

"About?" Yuri asked.

"W-well…" Sorey wasn't sure what to ask. It seemed so easy to talk to him before. But without a murderer to find, Sorey actually found Yuri a bit intimidating for some reason. "How have you been able to stay so calm in all of this?" He finally blurted out.

"Do I really look that calm to you?" Yuri actually asked with his arms folded. But he still had the same demeanor. Like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Of course you do. What do you call what you're doing now?" Sorey exclaimed, being completely baffled by Yuri's reaction.

Yuri actually shrugged. "I just have a good poker face," he answered.

"Poker face?" Sorey repeated out loud. He knew poker was a game that involved money, but what did a face have to do with it?

Yuri sighed. "Never mind," he said. "I should have guessed. Anyway, I'm just saying I'm hiding how nervous I really am."

That was impressive. Could Yuri be as nervous as Sorey was? It was so hard to tell. He honestly had a hard time imagining it. "That's so hard to imagine though."

"Listen Sorey," Yuri started to say, "you should be more wary of people like me."

"What do mean?" Sorey asked. "You're just like everyone else."

"You never know, I could just be putting on an act so it'll make you an easy target."

"Wait are you?" Sorey was so confused. Yuri had said that with such a straight face that he couldn't tell it if was just meant to be a joke.

"Oh boy," Yuri muttered before he just walked away.

 _Really, what did Yuri mean by that?_ Sorey wondered.

Sorey completed one out of four friendship fragments with Yuri.

/~/~/

There was still some time left before nighttime. So Sorey decided to spend some time with Lloyd.

"Oh Sorey, just the person I wanted to talk to," Lloyd said.

Sorey had decided to talk with Lloyd, but it turned out that Lloyd had a similar thought. Sorey had admired how Lloyd had kept such a positive attitude this whole time. He'd been wanting to get to know him better. "Yeah, what's up?" Sorey asked.

"I can tell we're pretty similar," Lloyd suddenly said.

"You can?"

"Of course," Lloyd said with such confidence. "You're clothes, they're handmade by you, right?"

Sorey could honestly say he wasn't expecting that. "Well, the people of my village made my clothes. But I did learn how to make bags and belts and such."

"I knew it, I could tell you were a crafter," Lloyd said with a smile.

"Are you saying that you made your clothes?"

"Well, no, my dad did. But I'm an apprentice blacksmith. I can make accessories and it won't be long before I learn how to make my very own weapons."

"Wow, that's so cool. I would love to be able to craft ceremonial sword. I could combine so many designs. That would be amazing if years from now, some explorer discovers it and it ends up in a museum."

Lloyd still had a smile. "Well I don't really get why that would be exciting, but I'll be happy to teach you all I know."

"Yeah. When we get out of here, you'll have to teach me how to be a blacksmith." They already had plenty of reasons to get out of here, but he was even more excited. Maybe it was because he made a new friend.

Sorey completed one out of four friendship fragments with Lloyd.


	7. Chapter 2 Daily Life Part 2

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Daily Life 2**

The next morning Sorey was woken up by the same announcement, quickly got ready, and left his room to join the others for breakfast.

"Hey Sorey," Jude called out just as Sorey almost reached the cafeteria.

Sorey was glad to see that Jude looked to be in better spirits than the day before. "Hey Jude, what's up?" Sorey asked.

"A couple of us are planning to explore the library more after breakfast. I figured that you would be interested it searching with us," Jude explained.

Sorey had wanted to look more in the library. "Of course," Sorey agreed in a pretty excited voice. He was sure Jude had more of a purpose for going rather than just going for fun. However, he just couldn't help getting excited. He'd been itching to explore all the books some more. But he didn't really want to go there alone. Yuri had even warned him that if he got too absorbed he could be an easy target. It must have been safe to go in a big group.

/~/~/

Breakfast was about as normal as it could be considering. Velvet was the only one who didn't show.

Everyone split after they ate and Sorey joined Jude and the others in the library. It was Jude, Milla, Kanonno, and Asbel that were waiting in the library.

"So what are you hoping to find here?" Asbel asked Jude.  
"It's just a hunch," Jude began to explain. "But I need everyone's help. So if you wouldn't mind, would each of you care to look for books that you are familiar with."  
Everyone nodded and they separated to look at different shelves. Sorey went to the end to begin his search. He needed to look for something that looked familiar to him. It was a simple request, but it was still pretty vague.  
There were so many books he wanted to start reading. But he just kept reminding himself to stay focused. Only look for books you know.  
Most of the titles he found Didn't sound remotely familiar to him. He could hear the others pulling books and placing them on nearby tables. He then started glancing a little faster. At the bottom of the first shelf, he finally found one that looked familiar. _The Aftermaths of the Dark Era_ was the title he had read before. He pulled it out and placed it under his arm before moving to the next shelf.

They all searched for a few more hours before they came back to the table. Everyone had at least an armful for books they placed on the table. Sorey quickly glanced at the books everyone else had and none of them looked familiar to Sorey.  
"So what do you want with all these books Jude?" Kanonno asked.  
"If you all wouldn't mind, please take a look at someone else's books," Jude instructed.  
They did as he said, and Sorey looked at what Milla found. There were some pretty weird books she got, like _A Mother's Eyes, A Mother's Touch_. He had never heard of any of them. Grant it, that probably didn't mean much from Sorey. He had grown up with limited number of books.  
"Look," Asbel started, "I'm not much into books. Most of the ones I found are ones that I know my brother read a lot. Can you please tell us what this was all for?"  
"Well, I was curious to see what kinds of material Monokuma would provide us," Jude began to explained. "We all agree that most of us are from different worlds, right?"  
There were some nods and Jude went on. "And yet this library has books we all know about. But Sorey, Asbel, I've never heard of any of these books."

"Maybe Monokuma just wanted to provide everyone with books they like," Kanonno suggested. "He must have just wanted to provide some entertainment for us."

"Why though? Wouldn't it be better to bore us so we're more likely to play the game?" Milla speculated.

Sorey held up one of the books he had found. "I don't know about that," he started, "but this book, I've only ever heard of it. It's an extremely rare book in my world."

"Then that means you can't prove its authenticity," Jude said. "But that is interesting. These are all books we like and would like to read. I'm sure if the others were here, they would probably find books they know."

"What are you thinking Jude?" Milla asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm still working on the theory," Jude admitted. "Thank you everyone. This has helped me out a great deal."

"Was this really all you needed from us?" Asbel asked.

"Basically," Jude admitted. "But if you all wouldn't mind reading the books your familiar with and verifying that they are indeed the same books from your world."

"I may have to bail on that one," Asbel said. "I wouldn't be much help on this one. If I did read, I probably wouldn't be able to tell if there was any difference."

"That's fine. Thanks for the help Asbel," Jude told him.

"I don't mind to read," Sorey volunteered.

"Yeah, I'll help out some more too," Kanonno said.

Asbel left the library and the rest of them sat at the table reading the books they found. To help Jude's theory, Sorey started reading the books he was most familiar with. He got up and to get some more books, but this time he did get other titles he had never heard of. He was sure there would be secrets to discover if he looked more into them. At least that's how he justified it.

Sorey wasn't sure how long he had stayed in the library until he felt someone hit him on top of his head. "Hey, Sorey…" he heard Yuri say in a frustration. "Have you really been in here all day?"

Sorey looked up from his book and was surprised to see that it was just him and Yuri in the library. "Where are the others?" Sorey asked. No one else was at the table and only his books were still there.

"It's dinner time. Jude said you stayed after they called it a day," Yuri told them. "Did you not even realize what time it was?"

Sorey hadn't realize that the others had left. He got so absorbed in reading. He scratched the back of his head. "I guess not. I've never gotten to be a room with this many books before."

Yuri let out a sigh. "You really are like her," he muttered. Then he went on to say, "Look, you got us worried when he hadn't seen you since this morning."

"I'm sorry," Sorey told him.

"Seriously, you need to be more aware of what's going on," Yuri scolded lightly. "Anyone could have come up behind you."

"Alright then, Sorey told him. He would need to bring some of these books to his room.

Yuri ended up helping Sorey carry an arm load of books into his room. He said it was so Sorey wouldn't be an easy target in the library.

After dinner, Sorey went back to his room to read some more.

/~/~/

The Monokuma announcement still woke Sorey with a jolt. It was the same announcement and Sorey just got ready to meet with the others.

It seemed like other mornings, Milla eating non-stop, two people dragging Stahn in half asleep, and Velvet nowhere to be found. But there seemed to be a bit more excitement in the air.

"Come on Yuri, I want you to show me that move from yesterday," Luke complained to Yuri.

"I already told you, I'm busy with tonight's preparations," Yuri answered.

"Yeah, but you could spare a moment. Right?" Luke went on to plead.

Yuri just rolled his eyes as he continued to eat his breakfast. Ludger walked out with another platter of food. "I would prefer not to cook by myself for tonight's party," Ludger told Luke who just started pouting.

"Party, what are you talking about?" Sorey asked.

Milla started muttering with her mouth so full that none of them could understand what she was saying.

"I think what Milla is trying to say is, we decided to celebrate," Jude said. "We want to show Monokuma that he can't get to us."

Sorey felt himself smile. "That sounds wonderful," he exclaimed. "I can't wait."

"It was Kanonno's idea," Lloyd said with a big smile.

Kanonno blushed a bit at that. "It wasn't like it was that big a deal to come up with. Besides, Yuri and Ludger will be doing all the work."

"We'll be pulling all the stops for tonight," Ludger told them.

"So the kitchen's off limits to all of you. Ludger and I will be busting our asses preparing," Yuri added.

Sorey kept his smile. It was surprising for Sorey to see that Yuri was volunteering to do a lot of cooking. Sorey had gotten the feeling that Yuri really could care less about it. However, he was probably more concerned with unifying everyone after they were given a motive.

"I am all in for whatever gets me more to eat," Stahn joked.

"I second that, it's a wonderful idea," Milla said when she finally swallowed her food.

"So does six o'clock sound good to everyone to start our feast?" Ludger asked.

Everyone nodded. It was so nice seeing everyone smiling. It was nice to have something fun to look forward to.

"Great, I'll let Velvet know," Kanonno said.

"Don't tell her," Kor said. "There's no telling what she'll do." Most of the others seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Kanonno didn't look sad, but disappointed. "But she's the reason I thought about having this party. She's always by herself and so lonely," she explained. Then she looked determined to win her case. "With all of us in one place having fun, I think that will give her the chance to open up to us."

Everyone fell silent at that. They knew she had a point. Sorey then went on to add, "A bright party would be a great way for us to get to know everyone. Who knows, it might make Velvet more comfortable with us."

Kanonno's expression brightened hearing that someone thought the same as her. "Thanks Sorey," she said with a warm smile.

Some of the others seemed to have lightened up seeing Kanonno's expression. Kor was even a little red when he said, "Well I guess if it makes Kanonno happy, we should get everyone together."

"It might actually make Velvet sadder if we left her out of something," Stahn pointed out. "I mean how would you feel, there are only fourteen of us and you're the only one who didn't get invited."

"How about we just agree with the idea you were going with on that Stahn," Yuri said.

"Okay, everyone get here at six o'clock so we can eat Yuri and Ludger's delicious food," Lloyd exclaimed with his mouth practically salivating at the mere thought of food.

 **/~/~/**

 **Free time**!

There was still some time to kill before the party tonight.

Sorey decided to try talking with Velvet again. She was still pretty intimidating to approach. "What?" She asked in a tone that said she didn't want to be bothered even if it was important.

Sorey was a bit off guard with her. But he stood his ground and went on to ask want he wanted to. He needed to reach her. "Velvet, when we get out, is there really no one you want to see?"

Velvet's expression didn't change. "Everyone I knew is gone," she said simply. "Did you just want to rub it?"

"Of course not," Sorey quickly told her. "I'm just trying to get to know you better."

"And I've told you that there is no point to it," Velvet told him.

 _I am not giving up,_ Sorey thought with determination. "What's your favorite food?" It was a very basic small talk question. It would at least be as good a place as any to get to know Velvet.

But she was silent and just stared blankly.

 _Okay let's try another one. "_ Do you like reading?" There was still no answer from her. "What about hobbies?"

"This is really starting to sound like you're looking for a way to kill me," Velvet only replied. "Why else would you want to get to know me."

"That's not what I'm doing at all," Sorey defended. "I really just want to get to know you better."

"Then answer your own questions," Velvet said.

"Fine," Sorey told her as he thought about his answers. "My friend Mikleo makes the best ice cream. So that's probably my favorite. And I really love reading. I learned so much about ruins from them that I want to explore more of the world so I can find them. Getting to explore the rest of the world would be great."

For some reason, Velvet flinched at hearing that. In fact, she looked at Sorey like she just saw a ghost. Her fist was clenched. "Why?" She muttered.

"Velvet?" Sorey started to ask. He was getting worried that maybe she suddenly got sick.

"It's nothing," she said trying to return to her normal composure. Then she quickly left. She practically ran.

 _Did I say something wrong?_ Sorey wondered.

 _Sorey completed two out of four friendship fragments._

/~/~/

 **Free Time!**

There was still some time left.

Sorey ran into Luke and decided to talk with him some. Maybe if he got to know Luke, maybe he would find that Luke wasn't so bad-

"Ahh," Luke exclaimed. "You're here to kill me, aren't you?"

Sorey was taken aback that he ended up tripping over his words. "W-What? Of...of course not. I don't intend to hurt anyone here."

Luke didn't look convinced in a slightest. "Yeah right, you're clearly dressed as a poor commoner. That means you have nothing to lose trying to kill me."

"I'm not poor," Sorey started to say. But then he thought about it. He technically didn't have any gald. By the definition, he was poor. But he wouldn't tell Luke that. "Besides, it's not like you're dressed any better than me."

"I was in the middle of training with Master Van when this crazy lady shows up trying to kill him and she and I got teleported to another country."

 _You're training outfit leaves your stomach exposed?_ Sorey wondered. But it was probably best not to bring that up. "So you were in the middle of training when you were brought here?" Sorey asked.

"Stupid, were you even listening to me?" Luke snapped, and Sorey really had to stop himself from snapping back. "That girl and Jade were about to bring me back home when I was suddenly here. I was so close too. The outside world sucks." Luke may have forgotten that Sorey was there and that he was talking to him, because he just started walking away muttering complaints.

Sorey let out a breath _. It really feels like I was talking with a wall,_ Sorey thought.

 _Sorey completed one out of four friendship fragments with Luke._

/~/~/

It was six o'clock and everyone was in the dining room. More surprising, Velvet was there with Kanonno. Somehow she had been able to convince Velvet. Sorey would have liked to have seen that since he struggled to hold a conversation with her.

Yuri and Ludger were bringing out plates of food. They really pulled all of the stops. There were all kinds of meats, soups, and even a table full of deserts. And it all smelled amazing.

"We can dig in, right?" Lloyd asked looking like he was ready to dive into the food.

"Well everything isn't done yet," Ludger said. There's still a few more dishes cooking."

"It would have been done on time if Ludger and I didn't have to keep shooing Mila and Stahn away from the kitchen," Yuri explained.

"Can you really blame us," Milla said with a smile. "It just smelled too good to be true."

"Yeah, we were really hoping they'd let us get a preview. But that didn't happen," Stahn said with a sigh.

"Well anyway, you all get started, I'll finished cooking," Yuri volunteered as he started walking back to the kitchen.

"Are you sure, I don't mind," Ludger offered.

"Just start the party, I'll rejoin you all soon," Yuri commented as he went into the kitchen.

"Well I'm declaring this party started," Lloyd declared.

But they could all hear Velvet say, "And that's my cue to leave."

"Velvet, you just got here," Kanonno argued.

"I told you, all I would do is show up, and I did," Velvet said as she then walked out of the room. Kanonno was calling after her, but Velvet ignored her.

"At least we won't have to worry about her trying to get us," Luke commented.

Everyone chose to ignore Luke's comment. Sorey was a bit sad that Velvet wasn't going to stay. But it wasn't like they could make her if she really didn't want to.

So they all dug into the food. It was just as good as it looked and smelled. Sorey just couldn't stop. The food wasn't the only great thing though. The atmosphere was also wonderful. It was like they were somewhere else. They were actually having fun with everyone.

Several people weren't slowing down eating either.

However, no one had really noticed that someone was getting sick until Yuri came out with the final dishes. "Kor, you okay?" He asked.

"I think I may have ate too much," Kor muttered as he held his stomach. His face was even turning a bit green.

"There might be some medicine in the nurse's office," Jude offered. "Come on, I'll take you. It wouldn't be good if you threw up."

"Okay," Kor muttered as he got up slowly. He really didn't look good.

"Jude, you should probably take Emil too," Milla pointed out.

Sorey just noticed Emil's state. It was bad that they all missed him since he had been sitting right next to Kor. He was also looking like a different shade. Emil didn't say anything, but did comply when Jude helped him up.

Jude escorted both Kor and Emil out of the cafeteria to the nurse's office. With three people gone, it did get a little quieter.

But the noise resumed when Stahn accidently knocked over a whole pot of soup. The whole thing spilled across the floor. A couple of people let out some snickers at Stahn's expense. Others were complaining about the mess and the loss of food. Sorey only felt a little disappointed because he hadn't gotten to try it. It looked like tomato soup.

"Calm down, there is still plenty of food," Asbel told people like Luke who were getting mad at Stahn. Stahn was getting so flustered he actually started to scoop the mess back into the pot.

"I officially declare that Ludger and I aren't going to clean that up since we cooked everything," Yuri said plainly.

"I vote Stahn cleans it up," Lloyd joked lightly.

"I'll lend a hand," Kanonno offered. "It's not fun working by yourself. Stahn actually gave her a big grateful smile

"Well I think we can save that for later, let's have a not let any of this food go to waste," Milla said as she started piling more food onto her plate. Sorey was actually quite surprised to see she was starting to get seconds. With the way she normally ate, he thought she would have been on her third or fourth by now.

"Hey, Sorey, you said you used swords, right?" Asbel then asked Sorey.

"Yeah, that's right," he answered.

"You should join us tomorrow at the dojo for some sword practice," Asbel told him.

"Hey, Asbel, don't just go inviting people without my say so," Luke complained.

Asbel just gave a tired sigh. "Luke, you're not the boss. Anyone can come train if they want. Besides, I thought you wanted to get stronger by learning different fighting styles."

Luke didn't say anything. Instead, he just sort of pouted. His face was a little red and Sorey wondered if he got a little embarrassed.

Sorey looked back at Asbel. "I should probably come, I don't want to get rusty while I'm here," he told him. Not only would he need to keep his sanity, but also his physical ability.

Right now though, he was just enjoying everyone's company.

/~/~/

It was officially nighttime and they all had to leave the cafeteria. Sorey was so stuffed when he left. He knew it was bad for his health, but he just wanted to get in bed and sleep it off. For the first time, Sorey was going to go to bed with a smile on his face.

However, that disappeared when entered his room. He opened the door to his room to find a sight that made his stomach drop.

His room was a mess. All the books he had borrowed from the library had their pages torn out and scattered all over his room. All the clothes from the closet had been pulled out and thrown all over the place. There also seemed to be some broken items that were from the school store. There was even snack food on the floor.

"What the heck," Sorey exclaimed as he stared at his room.

"Sorey, what in the world have you been doing?" Yuri's voice said behind him. He must have been walking by and noticed Sorey's room. Sorey had left his door wide open when he walked in.

"I definitely didn't leave it this way," Sorey defended.

He heard Yuri give a very tired sigh. "Sorey, you do lock your door, right?" Yuri asked, but he seemed to already have an answer.

"Well, I do lock it when I'm sleeping," Sorey answered. "Am I supposed to keep it locked when I'm not even here?"

Yuri didn't give a response. But he was fighting the urge to say something. So instead, Yuri walked into the room. "Go get some bags and brooms," was all he said.

Sorey just looked at Yuri's back. He was already picking pieces of paper. "You're going to help?"

"Do you not want me to?" Yuri just asked.

"No, thank you very much," Sorey told him.

"Well don't thank me yet, and go get bags for the garbage," Yuri told him.

"Right," Sorey quickly said as he hurried to get the supplies.

When he returned, he found not only Yuri, but Lloyd and Milla too were cleaning.

"Man Sorey, who did you piss off so they would trash your room," Lloyd joked lightly.

"I can't imagine any of us really going so far as to vandalize another's room," Milla commented. "But what I'm really concerned with is if this goes against that new rule Monokuma made up."

She did have a good point. The room and the books would be part of school property. So would someone be punished for this. Even though someone did this to Sorey, he still didn't want anyone to get one of Monokuma's punishments.

And because they mentioned him it seems, Monokuma appeared and jumped on top of Sorey's bed that he just now noticed had some strange blue substance on it. "While those things are school property," Monokuma started, "the dorms aren't in those regulations. So when you bring items into your room, they become your property. The school then doesn't have to be held responsible."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about that little loophole," Yuri muttered.

"I feel like I should add in how I'm totally okay with destruction of school property if it's used for murder," the bear quickly added.

"Why in the world would you tell us that?" Lloyd asked.

"Hey, now, I don't want to stiffen anyone's creativeness with their killings. Break a few eggs, right," Monokuma explained. "Plus it'd be pretty pointless to punish someone for one of the school rules when they've already killed someone. So think of it this way, if you become the blackened, you basically get immunity from all other rule breaking other than the trail rules."

"You just love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" Yuri asked.

Monokuma's head dropped. "What do you expect from me, you guys are really making me wait in suspense on the next murder. I've been so bored."

"Well I don't intend to be up all night," Yuri stated. "So get out of here so we can clean Sorey's room."

"Fine, fine," Monokuma said sadly. The bear jumped down from the bed and waddled slowly out of Sorey's room. He looked pretty sad. Sorey almost felt bad for him.

But only a tiny bit.

"Come on, with four of us it shouldn't take long at all," Lloyd said with a big smile.

"Thank you so much," Sorey said. "But you all don't have to help clean."

"Come on, we're friends," Lloyd said with a bright smile.

"I certainly don't want to ignore someone else's troubles," Milla told him.

Yuri had his back to Sorey again cleaning when he said, "I had told you to thank me by locking your door. So keep it locked all the time, got it?"

Sorey laughed at that. "I'll keep that in mind," he said. Yuri didn't look back or acknowledge what he said. They all started cleaning and were done in under an hour. There were also a lot more laughs to be had. Sorey felt confident in saying that everyone was a good person and he was happy he got the meet them.

He really wished there would be more moments like this.

/~/~/

The next day didn't seem to start off any different. But Sorey would learn that they never do.

He woke up from the morning announcement, got ready, and headed down to eat breakfast with everyone.

That's when it happened.

The bells gave a soft ring that sounded different from the morning and evening announcements.

Followed by Monokuma's voice.

" _A body has been discovered. Everyone, please report to the library,"_ the bear reported before it clicked off.

Sorey knew what the bells were alerting him to. But he just couldn't comprehend.

Someone else was dead?

Someone else became a murderer.


	8. Chapter 2 Investigation

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 ** _Investigation Time!_**

Sorey really couldn't remember how he got to the library. When he heard that body discovery announcement, he had automatically started running to the library. But he couldn't remember if he saw anyone else on his way there.

He stopped right outside the library. His body froze. Behind the door, he would see that someone else had died. He didn't want to.

But he had to.

He took a deep breath to steel himself. He quickly opened the door and went in like he was diving into water.

The first thing he saw were the others blocking his view of the victim. Sorey had been one of the last ones to arrive. Yuri saw him as soon as he came in. There was some relief in seeing that Yuri was okay. "Who..." Sorey forced out, but couldn't force out any other words.

Yuri had a grim look on his face. "It's Kor," he answered. Yuri moved so Sorey could see for himself.

Sorey could see. At one of the study tables was Kor. It almost looked like he could have been asleep the way he was slumped over the table. But he wasn't. His body wasn't moving from breathing. His head was resting on his arms and there was a mug next to him. At least this time, there was no blood.

It just didn't seem real. Kor was dead and someone had killed him. Just last night they had all been together and having a fun time. After a fellowship like that, who could have even considered killing?

Sorey then slowly began to realize that he heard someone crying. It was Kanonno.

She was on the other end of the room sitting in a chair crying into her hands. Velvet wasn't far from her. As if knowing what Sorey was going to ask, Yuri answered. "She and Velvet were the ones that discovered him," Yuri told him.

Sorey couldn't blame her for that. Sorey had felt similar when he first discovered Cress. It must have come as a great shock to her when she realized Kor wouldn't wake again.

"This is absolutely horrible. After what happened last time, who could have done this?" Asbel suddenly said angrily.

Monokuma then appeared at that moment with a big smile on his face. "That's what you all will find out or die trying," the bear said with a laugh at the end.

"Is this when you give us the Monokuma file?" Jude asked. It seemed a bit cold that he just outright asked for it. But they really didn't have any time to mourn. If they didn't investigate, they would all die.

"Man, I really love how you all are a bunch of go getters," Monokuma said "I can't wait to see how this one will turn out, I'm positively shaking in anticipation."

Sorey did his best to just ignore Monokuma and opened up his ehandbook. The screen changed and there was a picture of Kor with all the information on his height, weight, and even blood type. Several parts of Kor's body was highlighted. Below that it said:

 ** _Victim: Kor Meteor_**

 ** _CoD: Multiple Organ Failures_**

 ** _Location: Library_**

"What the hell, it doesn't say when he died," Asbel declared first.

Monokuma just shrugged when he said, "What can I say, I'm all about fairness for all."

"How are we supposed to figure this out if we don't know when he died?" Lloyd asked.

"Come on, just think of this as increasing the difficulty," Monokuma said.

"But knowing when he died is one of the key answers that we need in order to solve this," Ludger pointed out.

It hit Sorey at that moment. "Are you saying the time of death is the key to solving this?" He asked.

Monokuma just tilted his head. "I'll plead the fifth on this one. Like I said. I have to give everyone an equal shot." Then he laughed. "All righty, you better get to crackin. See you in a few hours." With that, the bear was gone and they were all left with themselves and a dead body.

"I can't do this again," Kanonno started to mutter. "I can't watch someone get killed again. I'm tired of this."

Sorey felt his stomach drop at that. He felt similar. But what other choice did they have? They were powerless to stop Monokuma. They couldn't even stop the murders from happening.

Before anyone could try and comfort Kanonno, Velvet was the one to quickly say, "Does that mean you're ready to die?"

Kanonno raised her head quickly at that. "No, of course not. I don't want to die either," she defended.

"Then get up and let's find out who the blackened is," Velvet told her simply. "You only have two options. Die or live. We don't have the luxury of doing nothing if we want to live."

"Velvet, aren't you being too cruel?" Stahn asked.

"It's the truth," Velvet said simply.

"Velvet," Asbel exclaimed.

"It's fine," Kanonno said. "I can't sit and do nothing. Velvet's right. If we want to live to fight another day, then we have to keep going."

That was the sad truth of the matter. They would have to find out who killed Kor if they all wanted to live.

"Then let's just split off and look around," Yuri said to get everyone focused. "Jude, do you care if I pair up with you? I'm really curious to see what you can come up with."

Jude didn't seem to have been paying attention. He was slightly startled and recomposed himself. "Well, I guess that sounds alright. But I'm honestly worried I won't be able to tell much without the proper tools."

"That's fine, let's all hurry up and split up," Yuri ordered.

Sorey was actually a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to work with Yuri this time. He gave a lot of interesting insight in the last investigation. With that thought though, he hoped he wasn't getting used to this.

As he started to look to others and as everyone was looking to one another to pair up, Yuri walked up to Sorey. "Sorey, do you mind grabbing someone and getting over to the science lab?" He asked very casually and quietly.

"Sure, as soon as we pair up I'll-" but Sorey didn't get to finish that thought because Yuri grabbed his arm and quickly moved him toward the door.

Standing close to the door was Emil, still looking like he was still processing that there would be another trial. Yuri grabbed Emil as well and pushed both of them out the door. "You two hurry up to the lab," Yuri urged.

"Hold on Yuri," Sorey tried to ask so he could fully understand what Yuri was planning.

"Think about it," Yuri said talking in almost a whisper. "There's no blood, so how else could Kor have died?"

It hit Sorey then. "The poison in the science lab," Sorey exclaimed.

Yuri shot him a rather annoyed look. It only now dawned on Sorey that Yuri was trying to keep this quiet from the others. But he went on. "Yeah, so I want you get there and get clues before anyone can even consider hiding evidence. So go on." Yuri wouldn't let him say anything else on the matter. He pretty much kicked Sorey and Emil out of the library.

If Yuri was that concerned that the blackened would dispose of evidence, then Sorey had better hurry before the others split off.

"Alright Emil, are you ready?" Sorey asked.

But he didn't get the response the wanted or even expected. Emil hung his head down. "I-I was paired up with the murderer last time. So what'll be different this time?"

That's right, Emil was paired up with Senel in the last investigation. It must have been horrifying to realize you had been in a room alone with a killer. But Sorey wasn't sure what to say. He could easily say that he wasn't the blackened however that would not put Emil at any kind of ease. So he thought about taking a page from Velvet's book. "Emil, we have to investigate. If we're not prepared for the trial then…" Sorey couldn't really bring himself to say it.

Thankfully that was enough to get Emil to start walking toward the science lab.

They were the first to arrive and it looked like someone had been using the lab. Cabinets were open and there were all kind of bottles out on the table. Sorey quickly looked over the table. He really wished Jude was here because he really didn't know what a lot of the bottle labels were saying. But several were already half empty. Someone had been here brewing something. Yuri's suspicious seemed to have been right. The blackened must have poisoned Kor. But with what? There were so many bottles that must do a variety of things.

"So this is where the two of you went," Milla's voice said. It started Sorey a little. But not as much as Emil who fell to the ground with a startled cry.

Milla had entered the lab with Luke and Veigue. Milla must have got stuck babysitting Luke.

Sorey figured he should leave Yuri out of this since it was clear that he wanted this quiet. He answered, "I figured the murder weapon might still be in here."

"You suspected it was poison too," Veigue commented.

"Everyone seemed to come to think the same thing," Milla added. "The three of us volunteered to check out the lab."

"What the hell, there are so many bottles," Luke began to explain. "Are we really expected to search each of these?"

"Of course, we have to figure out what killed Kor" Milla told him firmly. Then she looked back at Sorey. "Since there are three of us, we have the lab covered. Sorey, would you care to gather everyone's whereabouts for after the party? We need to figure out who the last person to see Kor alive was."

"Yeah, that will help narrow down when someone could have poisoned him," Sorey said. But he shuddered. He really didn't like how comfortable he was talking like that.

"Thanks, the three of us will find what could have killed Kor," Veigue said.

"So where were the three of after the party?" Sorey went ahead and asked.

"As you remember, I helped you clean your room," Milla answered first. "Afterwards, I did go check on Jude in the nurse's office, but no one was there. That was around midnight."

Sorey looked over at Emil, he remembered he and Kor left with Jude at the party after feeling sick. "Emil, what time did you and Kor leave the nurse's office?" Sorey asked.

Emil jumped again. "I-I..." Emil stuttered horribly.

"It's okay Emil. You just have to be honest," Milla reassured.

That did very little to help Emil. But he did manage to talk. "I..uh...wasn't there long...I went back to my room when I left. Kor and Jude must have still been in the infirmary since he was worse off. I think."

"Someone must have poisoned his food," Luke exclaimed. "I thought for sure that it would have been the weapon that Monokuma hid on the second floor. That must mean that no one has found it yet."

It was a bit strange that if there was a weapon that it wasn't used. So maybe it wasn't found yet. Maybe once they survived this trial, they should all go look for the weapon so it's not used.

"So Luke, what did you do after the party?" Sorey redirected.

"I just went back to my room," Luke stated matter of factly.

Sorey believed him wholeheartedly. If Luke were to kill someone, Sorey was pretty confident that Luke wouldn't use poison.

"Veigue?" Sorey then asked so not to have Luke add any more.

"I did go to the dojo to work off the food before bed," Veigue answered. "On my way back, I did see Milla heading to the nurse's office."

"You sure were quiet, I didn't see you," Milla commented.

Veigue made no commented. He really wasn't much of a talker.

"Thanks guys, we'll go talk to the others now," Sorey told them and started walking out, but he had to wait on Emil. He was dragging his feet.

Emil looked like he was struggling under fear to even stay standing. Again, Sorey couldn't blame him. However, they couldn't keep going at this pace. They'd run out of time and Sorey could really use a partner.

"Look, we're all scared," Sorey tried to reassure. But that did nothing. "Come on Emil, we're all supposed to be heroes here,

"That's why I keep saying I don't belong here. It's clear that Monokuma got the wrong guy. I'm definitely not a hero."

Others might be willing to agree. But Sorey knew that Monokuma didn't make mistakes. Emil had to be here for a reason. "Emil, who did you see in your motive video?" Sorey asked. There was a long pause and Sorey went on to say, "I don't have any blood relatives. I was raised by the village and by a man I called gramps. And I had my best friend. I saw all of them. I'm really worried about them."

Emil had a surprised look on his face. Yuri would probably scold him if he found out that he was telling people his motive. But if he wanted Emil to bare his soul, then he should too. Emil dropped his head. "I don't have anything like that," Emil said weakly. "My hometown was attacked, my parents are gone, my aunt and uncle could care less about me."

Sorey felt like he just ate his own foot. He never imagined that Emil might not have even been given a motive like Velvet.

Then, "But, in my video, I saw a girl. I just met her and I think she's mistaken me for someone else too. But I don't want anything bad to happen to her either. She was really nice to me."

"Then turn Monokuma's motive into strength" Sorey told him. "We'll keep fighting so we can keep those people safe without doing what Monokuma says. Think of it this way, once we get out of here and make sure everyone's safe, you can probably call yourself a hero then."

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality, is that what you're trying to tell me?" Emil then asked.

Sorey scratched his head in confusion. "Not sure if that's really what I said, but if that helps you." Emil really needed some courage. So if the weird phrase helped...

Emil turned his hands into fists and for the first time, Sorey saw a little bit of fire in his eyes. "Okay, Sorey, I'll do my best not to slow you down."

Sorey gave a weak laugh. That wasn't really what he was hoping Emil would say, but it was a step in the right direction. "Alright then, we need to find out who killed Kor. No matter how painful it might be."

Emil gave a hesitant nod. "For Kor," he muttered.

/~/~/

The next stop was the kitchen. If Kor was poisoned, it was horrifying, but the party seems like a likely place. Kanonno and Velvet were searching the kitchen already.

"Whoever did the cleaning in here did a horrible job," Velvet commented. There was something about the way Velvet said that. She almost seemed like a normal person rather than the angry loner she tried to be.

"Regardless, all the cleaning that was done doesn't help us one bit," Kanonno commented.

"Do the two of you think Kor was poisoned at the party?" Sorey asked.

"Well, he did get sick during it," Kanonno pointed out. "It's horrible to think, but someone may have slipped him something while we were all eating."

"Kor got sick at the dinner last night?" Velvet asked to clarify.

"Yeah, both he and Emil did. Jude took care of them then," Kanonno explained.

Velvet then looked at Emil who flinched at her piercing gaze. "So you and Jude were probably the last ones to see him alive. So what happened?"

Whatever resolve Emil had gained moments ago was gone when Velvet questioned him. His gaze was avoiding hers. "I...uh...didn't stay in the nurse's office long," Emil stuttered horribly.

"Well that makes Jude more suspicious," Velvet summed up.

"It's still too early to suspect anyone," Sorey tried to say. Jude was a doctor, or studying to be one. We wanted to help people. There's no way he could harm someone.

"That's just part of it," Velvet said. "You have suspects and rule them out."

"But even so, why would Jude kill Kor?" Kanonno asked.

 _The motive video,_ Sorey thought. Someone must have done it for that. Even if they could watch everyone's video, that would lead them no closer to a suspect. Everyone had different values.

"I think you all are looking at this wrong," Velvet pointed out. "How likely could it be that someone slipped Kor poison during the party?" Velvet asked them.

"Well...I think we may have noticed. And I'm pretty sure we all kept our own hands on our plates," Sorey speculated as he recalled the previous night.

"Then it's likely that Kor wasn't the target," Velvet speculated.

Sorey was horrified to hear that. "Then who could the target have been?" Sorey asked. He was worried that they might still be in danger.

"I'm saying that the victim was random," Velvet snapped.

"Then...you're saying whoever the blackened is, just randomly put poison in the dishes," Kanonno muttered.

"If that is when Kor was poisoned, then they must not have had a specific target in mind," Velvet explained. "If random is the case, then finding the blackened will be harder since there are no obvious connection between the murderer and victim."

It would just make it harder. But Velvet made it tougher for Sorey by saying, "With that theory, Yuri and Ludger are my suspects, they prepared the food, right?"

Sorey flinched hearing that. He didn't want to point fingers at anyone. Certainly not Yuri though. He just couldn't see Yuri killing anyone even with the motive he was given. Yuri felt like...a big brother, one that Sorey never had.

"I need your alibis," Sorey just went on to ask. It may have been childish to ignore that possibility. He just wasn't ready to explore that path. Maybe once he learned more, he could then.

"I returned to my room to sleep," Kanonno told him.

Velvet folded her arms and seemed to be studying Sorey. "I went exploring while you all were playing pretend that we weren't in a killing game. I returned to my room when it was nighttime."

"Thanks, we need to get everyone else's now. Let's go Emil," Sorey said as he started walking out of the kitchen.

Emil quickly followed and when they were out in the hallway, Emil released a breath. "Man, Velvet is scary," he muttered.

Sorey didn't respond, which prompted Emil to say, "You really believe Yuri and Ludger didn't do it, don't you?" Just when Sorey looked at Emil, he instantly folded. "I-I sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Sorey really thought Emil had made some progress. But it looked like they would have to take baby steps. "Granted, I think everyone is a good person," Sorey explained. "I just have a gut feeling I guess."

Emil just nodded. "Yuri...is a little intimidating...but I think he's a good person."

Sorey gave a small smile. He was happy to hear that someone else thought the same.

/~/~/

Asbel and Stahn's alibis were the same as most. They had returned to sleep after eating. The two of them were searching Kor's room so see if there was anything strange. Asbel had wondered if maybe Kor was poisoned in his room and the blackened could have moved him to the library.

They hadn't found anything and were still determined to find anything that might be useful.

They figured it was time to return to the library because Jude may have found something. Sorey and Emil paused briefly before they opened door. They both had to prepare themselves for seeing Kor again.

When they opened the door, they saw that Kor had been moved to the floor so Jude could examine him better. Yuri was standing behind him watching while Ludger and Lloyd were examining the rest of the library.

The two of them approached Jude and Yuri. Kor was lying face up and easily looked like he could be sleeping. Yuri spoke first. "So what did you find in the lab?"

"There were a lot of bottles already out. I couldn't really tell what had been used," Sorey informed.

"Then Veigue's group showed up, right?" Yuri asked. "They agreed to go check out the lab."

"Y-yeah," Emil said.

"So did you learn anything new?" Sorey asked.

"Well, it's pretty obvious that it was poison," Jude answered. "There are no external wounds. There are a few bruises, but those are probably just from sparing in the dojo."

"Don't forget there was blood on his mouth," Yuri pointed out.

"Right," Jude admitted. "I wiped it off for modesty sake."

"Where did the blood come from?" Sorey asked.

"Most likely, it was from the poison," Jude answered. "If Kor did have multiple organ failure, that would cause a lot of internal bleeding."

"Are you any closer to figuring out when he died?" Yuri asked.

"Without proper tools, I won't be able to give an accurate reading," Jude admitted. "It's safe to say that it was a few hours ago when he finally died."

"But?" Yuri asked.

"But I'm just not sure when he could have been poison," Jude said. "Without knowing what the poison is, I can't say for certain when he was poisoned."

"And knowing when he was poisoned would be the key to finding out who did this," Yuri speculated.

"Then share with us where you were after our party," Sorey asked.

"I helped you clean and then I went on to bed," Yuri answered.

"I was in the nurse's office until probably about midnight. Emil left about as soon as we got there and I was taking care of Kor most of night with an upset stomach. I even had to help him back to his room," Jude answered.

Sorey recalled that Milla had gone to check on him and he hadn't been there. Of course Jude may not have been fully aware of the time.

"By the way Emil, how are you feeling?" Jude suddenly asked. "I meant to ask how you were this morning. You seemed like a different person last night."

It was a simple question, yet that startled Emil. "I sorry," he said for some reason.

"Why are you apologizing?" Jude asked. "I mean, I was a little worried when it looked like your eyes changed colors and you stormed out. I thought you must be getting worse."

"Emil did?" Yuri asked

"I'm sorry," Emil apologized again. "I…I guess I'm not a very good patient."

"That's no reason to apologize," Jude told him. "As long as you're fine."

"I'm sorry," Emil apologized once more.

"Relax Emil," Yuri told him.

Emil looked like he was going to say it again, but he stopped.

"Ludger and Lloyd are looking through books to see what poisons could have been used," Yuri started to say. "We probably don't have much time left, so do you two care to give them a hand."

"Of course," Sorey said.

Emil didn't respond.

/~/~/

Ludger and Lloyd already had a few books out, on a different table. They were books on herbs and even poisons.

"Do you all have any leads?" Sorey went on to ask.

"Maybe," Ludger said as he handed Sorey the book he was looking at.

"Deadly seven-hour poison," Emil read.

"Look at the pages," Ludger pointed. "You can tell that that someone was really looking at that page. There's even a stain on it."

Sorey examined the page. There were some grey smudges from where fingers had rubbed against the pages. Someone had spent some time studying it. "If this is the poison that was used, then that would mean that Kor was poisoned after the party," Sorey speculated.

"But if that's the case, then why would Kor be in the library and not in his room?" Lloyd asked.

 _Kor didn't strike me as the book type,_ Sorey though. At least not enough to come to the library in the early mornings with a mug of coffee. _Wait a minute,_ Sorey started to piece together something. The cafeteria was closed at nighttime, so how did Kor get the mug? The blackened must have taken it before the kitchen was closed.

And why would they take mug?

Emil thought the same. "Doesn't it seem more likely that it was a more instant poison?" Emil asked. "It looks like he may have drink it."

"That's what I keep thinking," Lloyd said. "There's no way Kor would come the library."

Emil suddenly looked very sheepish and wouldn't look at Lloyd for some reason.

"We already looked at that angle," Ludger explained. "We compared the ingredients for some the instant poisons in this book to the stuff in the lab. They don't house the right ingredients to make any instant poison. Which might make sense if you think this is supposed to be a school."

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to students making anything too dangerous," Sorey commented.

"I doubt a killing game would also be involved," Emil muttered.

The sad news though was that they were no closer to figuring our when Kor was poisoned.

Suddenly the bell rang. It was time for the trial.


	9. Class Trial 2

I'm back!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Class Trial**

Everyone was gathering to the waiting room for the trial to start. Sorey and Emil were walking together and Sorey started to notice that Emil was looking like he did when they started the investigation.

"I'm sorry," Emil suddenly said as he held his head low.

"What are you apologizing for?" Sorey asked.

"We were supposed to work together and I didn't help you or Kor," Emil said.

While Emil maybe wasn't as helpful as Yuri had been in piecing the facts together, Sorey couldn't complain since he didn't do any better. "It may seem like we have nothing, but I think the trial is the real test," Sorey started to say. "We just need to work together with what the others found."

Emil just nodded as they continued toward the waiting room.

They just waited for a few others and then they rode the elevator down with everyone and no one said anything. It was so quiet despite the noise of the elevator. Sorey was sure that none of them thought they would have been back here for the same reason. There were two less people than last time.

They spent the morning investigating who could have killed Kor, but it still didn't feel real. Sorey was sure Yuri would tell him to focus. With no obvious leads, no one could dwell at how unreal this all felt.

The doors finally opened to the courtroom with Monokuma sitting on the high chair and there were two more pictures filling the podiums. The bear jumped up with excitement. "Alrighty, let's get this trial started. I want to see tears and swears thrown out," Monokuma exclaimed.

Each of them stood behind the podium and Monokuma banged the gavel on his chair. "You all know the rules, get to debating."

"I suppose we should start with how Kor died," Asbel started with a heavy tone. "We all agree that Kor was poisoned, right?"

"There were no external injuries," Jude commented. "So that seems to be the logical conclusion."

"Jude, you're our medical expert. What kind of poison could have been made with these ingredients?" Yuri asked.

"It's not like I studied poisons all that much, I would need to look it up," he answered. But something was wrong. In the last trail, Jude was so confident. Did losing someone else really shake him? Now he seemed like he was second guessing himself

"So we need to figure out when Kor was poisoned," Veigue began.

"We may know when he died, early this morning," Yuri pointed out. "But that doesn't mean anything unless we can figure out when he was poisoned. So we can't really consider alibis at this point."

"Well it's still pretty obvious," Luke started to say in a bossy tone. Then he pointed. "Velvet was the one that poisoned Kor."

There were a few groans from some of the others. Velvet didn't even give a response. Surprisingly, it was Emil that spoke up. "But Velvet didn't even get a motive," he said.

"So?" Luke snapped. "She could have been lying or something. We didn't watch everyone else's video. And even so, what's the point?"

"I-I'm sorry," Emil said quickly.

"Look, who knows if Velvet was telling the truth about her motive video," Asbel said. "But I think it's safe to assume that the reason why Kor was killed was because of those motive video."

"That's something we can go over later," Yuri pointed out. "Right now we can't start some witch hunt only based on someone's motive."

"The best strategy would probably be to figure out when Kor could have been poisoned," Sorey said.

"There's actually something I want to clarify with the bear first," Velvet suddenly stated completely ignoring what Sorey said.

"It's headmaster Monokuma," Monokuma growled.

Velvet paid his outburst zero attention. "The rules state that the body discovery announcement plays when three people discover a body," Velvet began to explain.

"You know it's kind of scary the way you're talking so casual about this," Lloyd commented.

"What exactly are you asking, Velvet?" Milla asked.

"Would the murderer count among the three needed for the discovery announcement?" Velvet went on to ask.

"What's the point in asking that?" Luke asked. "Are you just trying to confuse us because you're the killer?"

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Do the math. It was just Kanonno and I in the library when the announcement played. So who was the third person?"

It clicked with Sorey then. They didn't even consider it last time since there were four of them that found Cress. If Monokuma didn't count the blackened, then that means someone else discovered Kor before Velvet and Kanonno went into the library. But why didn't they say they had found him?

"The rules state when three participants discover a body the announcement plays," Monokuma explained. "When someone becomes the blackened, they are no longer a participant. So most of the rules don't apply to them."

"So, someone else found Kor this morning before the discovery announcement," Ludger speculated.

"But why would they keep quiet about it?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm sorry guys," Jude suddenly said. "I guess I was the first one to discover Kor."

 _Huh?_ Sorey looked at Jude and noticed how he wasn't looking at them. He seemed a little sheepish admitting it.

"Why are you just now saying something?" Stahn asked.

"Well, I didn't think it was that big a deal," Jude explained. "When I confirmed he was dead, I quickly ran to get more people. Before I could find anyone, the announcement played."

"That must have been scary to find a body by yourself," Kanonno commented. "I don't know what I would have done without Velvet."

"Jude, did you see anyone else before or right after you found Kor?" Veigue asked.

"I didn't see anyone until the announcement played," Jude answered. "I'm really sorry, I was so focused on getting to the library that even if I did run into anyone, I probably barely noticed them."

"Well you were determined to research in the library," Asbel pointed out like he was confirming Jude's reasoning.

"That doesn't get us any closer," Yuri said. "Now that we've determined who found Kor, we need to figure out when Kor could have gotten poisoned."

"You're the one I distrust the most," Velvet then said as she pointed at Yuri. "If you ask me, you and Ludger should be the prime suspects."

Ludger was startled, but Yuri didn't so much as flinch. "Why would you suspect us?" Ludger asked.

"I heard that Kor got sick last night at your little dinner party," Velvet began to explain. "If we're talking about when he was poisoned, that would seem most likely."

"What? Yuri, Ludger, you two poisoned Kor at the party last night?" Luke exclaimed.

"Of course not," Yuri said like he was just trying to tell a kid not to believe such obvious lie. "First off, how would I have known what Kor would have even eaten?"

"Yeah, if we had prepared each person's plate, I can see suspecting us," Ludger said. "Yuri and I just made the food in big batches. We wouldn't have been able to have poisoned just him."

"But he wasn't the only one," Veigue pointed out. "Emil left sick too."

Emil was startled. "B-but I'm still alive?"

"Why are you sounding like we're accusing you?" Asbel asked.

"Veguie, I see where you're getting at," Ludger defended. "But if what you're saying is true, then why is Emil still alive? Shouldn't he be dead too?"

"I've considered this," Veigue started. "I think we can all agree that Kor was one of the more glutinous of this group. I saw last night that he was devouring a lot of food. More than Emil anyway. It seems very likely that Kor consumed enough to kill him while Emil only got food sickness."

"Jude, is that possible?" Lloyd asked. "I would have thought poison would be dangerous regardless of how much."

"It would all depend on what was used," Jude explained. "It very well could have been something as simple as the food being improperly cooked. That would explain Emil's condition. And if Kor did eat a lot of badly cooked food, then it could have been deadly if left untreated."

"No way, are you saying Kor's death could have been an accident?" Sorey said in disbelief. They were in a killing game. Would it really be possible for accidental death?

"No way, then why are we having a trial?" Luke demanded.

"It's very possible that this could have been an accidental death," Monokuma interrupted. "That's part of what you have to figure out. And if what Veigue says is true, then you'll need to figure out who cooked the food poorly, upfufuf." The bear laughed at the end. "It was gross negligence on their part."

"So we have to decide between Ludger and Yuri," Jude summed up.

Sorey felt his stomach drop. He wasn't sure why this felt worse than the last trial. But to think that Kor's death was an accident and that Yuri and Ludger where the cause. Sorey looked at Ludger and Yuri. Ludger looked like he was devastated at the news. And Yuri...He rolled his eyes. He knew something. Why wasn't he saying anything? What did Yuri know?

This wasn't sitting right with Sorey. What was it?

He decided to ask what was bothering him. "Jude, why didn't you notice it?" Sorey asked.

"Huh?" Jude looked up as he had been thinking.

"You're a medical student," Sorey pointed out. "So why didn't you figure out it was food poisoning and that Kor was that bad off?"

Jude seemed stunned. He looked like he was carefully considering what to say. "Well…" He started to say, "I didn't run any test. I really only thought it was a stomach ache."

"Jude, you were an honor student," Ludger quickly pointed out. "How could you not tell the difference between a stomach ache and food poisoning? Any medical student should be able to tell the difference."

Jude's head dropped and he made a fist. "You...You're right," Jude forced out. "It was my fault. The gross negligence falls on me. I was just so embarrassed by that mistake that I couldn't bring myself to admit it. Just go ahead and vote me the blackened. If I had just done my job, Kor would still be alive."

"Jude," Milla said in a sympathetic tone.

"Well I guess we figure it out," Kanonno said.

"Does that mean you're ready to vote?" Monokuma asked.

"Hold it," Yuri snapped and everyone jumped. "There are still too many thing that don't add up."

"Do you know something we don't Yuri?" Velvet asked.

"I'm just as in the dark as you all," Yuri answered.

 _That...That was a lie,_ Sorey realized. Yuri said everything in such confidence including that sentence. Did Yuri know what was going on? Then why not tell them?

"But if Kor really died of severe food poisoning, then why would he be in the library?" Yuri asked. "If he really had food poisoning then wouldn't it make more sense for him to be in his room or even the bathroom?"

"Good point," Stahn commented. "Why would anyone go study when they don't feel good."

"Not really the point I'm making, but close enough," Yuri said with a sigh.

"Well I guess we're lucky we have a witness to Jude's treatment," Velvet said.

All eyes fell on Emil who jumped at the attention. "I...I don't remember," Emil forced out.

"Are you kidding me?" Yuri asked. He actually seemed frustrated at that.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Asbel asked.

"The only thing I remember is feeling nauseous," Emil started. "I walked with Jude and Kor to the nurse's office, then I guess I blacked out."

"You were that sick?" Luke said in disbelief.

"I think it was more that he was so sick that he was in a bad mood," Jude explained.

"I...was that bad?" Emil asked.

"Well I was really concerned," Jude went on. "Your voice got deeper and you were swearing a lot."

"I-I'm sorry," Emil said. "I must not be a good patient."

"It's fine, you were probably in a lot of pain," Jude offered.

"Look, we're not getting any closer with this," Milla pointed out. "Jude, why don't you just tell what happened when you were with Kor. We can judge if it was negligence."

"Milla," Jude said. "Alright. When I took Kor and Emil to the nurse's office, I thought it was just an upset stomach from eating too much. I gave them some medicine. Emil, he got pretty cranky and he left shortly after he took some medicine. Kor stayed a little longer and then I helped him back to his room."

"How different do you think his symptoms would be if it was food poisoning?" Sorey asked.

"He would have vomiting and sweating," Jude answered without hesitation.

 _Neither of those symptoms were brought up by Jude or Emil. Jude really should have noticed that it wasn't food poisoning. Was he feeling that guilty for thinking it was something else?_ There was more to Kor's death. It couldn't have just been an accident like this.

"Are you thinking Kor could have been poisoned after the party?" Milla asked.

"That seems more likely," Sorey said. "If he was poisoned at the party, it just wouldn't make sense that Kor was the only one that died or that more of us didn't at least get sick."

"Not to mention, both Kor and Emil looked like they were suffering from the same symptoms. So really, Emil should at least still be feeling sick if it was really food poisoning," Ludger explained.

"How do you feel Emil?" Kanonno asked.

"I feel fine," Emil answered. "Whatever Jude gave me, it made me feel better."

"It sounds like Jude was the one that poisoned Kor," Asbel said.

Everyone was shocked to hear that from Asbel. Jude's eyes went wide and so did Milla's. "What?" Jude said in confusion. "I may have failed to help him, but I didn't purposely poison him."

"But that would explain why Emil is still alive and Kor isn't. You cured Emil and either poisoned Kor then or just didn't cure the deadly seven-hour poison. The times add up perfectly. You're a medical student, so making a poison and an antidote would be no problem for you."

Jude was speechless. And it was Milla who stuck up for him. "I refuse to believe Jude could have hurt anyone," she said.

Sorey felt similar. He tried to remember the page Asbel and Ludger had shown him. But Sorey had only glanced at the page.

"Jude what was your motive video? Was that why you killed Kor?" Stahn asked.

Jude's eyes were down cast. "I…" he started to say, but his voice fell.

 _The seven-hour poison works instantly and can be cured in the first three hours,_ Sorey begun to recall. _The side effects are...That's it!_

"If that was when Kor was poisoned, then why did he go to the library?" Sorey asked out loud for anyone to answer.

"Who can guess why he went to the library," Luke said as he rolled his eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because the side effects of the seven-hour poison is extreme stomach pain and nausea," Sorey answered. "If Kor was poised with that, we should have found him in his room or even the nurse's office. He would have been in pain. If I felt that, I wouldn't have gone to the library."

"And that's the book worm saying that," Monokuma tried to joke. But everyone either groaned or rolled their eyes at the bear.

"I suppose that makes sense," Asbel admitted. "I didn't pay any attention to the effects."

"But then, why did it look like someone was working from that page?"

"To make us suspect the wrong person," Yuri just said casually.

"I suppose if Jude was the blackened, he made it too obvious it was him," Velvet said.

"So because it was so obvious, it couldn't be Jude," Lloyd speculated. "That really must have taken some planning."

"Then why did Emil and Kor get sick at the party?" Asbel asked.

"Perhaps they used some kind of laxative in the food?" Emil said.

"What makes you think that?" Sorey asked.

"Well, how to make a mild form of that was on the page after the seven-hour poison. And it had stains on it too," Emil admitted.

"How come you didn't mention that sooner?" Asbel exclaimed. He seemed like he was embarrassed for not realizing it himself.

"I'm sorry," Emil quickly apologized. "I-I didn't think it was anything important. I really thought it must have stained from the previous page."

"It's good that you said something," Yuri commented. "I think it's safe to assume that some kind of additive must have been added to the food to make you sick. It couldn't be a coincidence that Kor and Emil both got sick."

"Then that points back to Ludger and Yuri," Velvet said.

"Oh come on," Ludger groaned. "Like I said earlier we wouldn't have been able to poison Kor's food."

 _How could the culprit have gotten the laxative to Kor at the party?_ Sorey thought. Yuri and Ludger made the food in bulks. So there was no guarantee that Kor would have even eaten the right food. Unless…

"Kor wasn't the target," Sorey blurted out. "The culprit wasn't targeting anyone."

"Are you saying that any one of us could have been the victim?" Kanonno asked.

"That would make sense why we couldn't find any connection," Veigue said. "The victim was chosen at random."

"They must have waited to see who got sick and picked their victim between Kor and Emil," Sorey summed up.

"T-that means I could have been the victim," Emil said with the shudder.

"But why would they go to all that trouble?" Luke demanded. "It would have been simpler to have used the seven-hour poison."

"To trick us," Yuri explained. "We all would have assumed Jude was the culprit because he was last to see Kor. And if we really thought he was killed with the seven-hour poison, then the party gives the real culprit an alibi when Jude doesn't."

Jude still wore a dark look on his face as he still. He barely reacted since his name was pretty much clear. Why wasn't he happier about that?

"We keep going in circles," Velvet said darkly. "But it always comes back to Ludger and Yuri. They're the most likely ones to have poisoned the food."

"It couldn't have just been Ludger and Yuri," Stahn said angrily. "I was also in the kitchen before the party." But about as soon as he said that, he realized what he did. "No wait, I didn't poison Kor. Why would I do that?"

"You really just threw yourself in the pit, huh?" Yuri commented.

"Milla tried to sneak in the kitchen too," Stahn exclaimed.

Millia had a startled look on her face from suddenly being brought into the spotlight.

She didn't say anything because Jude jumped to her defense. "Milla wouldn't hurt anyone," he defended.

"Jude, we just have to go through the suspects list," Lloyd said gently.

"So Milla and Stahn why were you two in the kitchen?" Luke quickly asked.

Stahn had his hands on the side of his face. "I was just so hungry and the food smelled so good. I couldn't resist," Stahn weakly defended.

"It's the same for me, Ludger and Yuri's food just smelled too appetizing," Milla told them simply.

Ludger had a pained expression. "Milla, I don't want to suspect you. I know you're a good person. But while Yuri and I were dealing with Stahn, we found you near one of the soups we were making."

"I can assure you I was just tasting it," Milla said calmly. "And even though we have established that it couldn't have the seven-hour poison, he still could have been poisoned after seeing Jude. I couldn't have done it because I was helping Sorey clean his room."

"Did you ever figure out who did that Sorey?" Lloyd asked.

Sorey didn't answered. That couldn't have been a coincidence that his room was trashed last night. Why else would someone have done that but to create an alibi for themselves. But that was only for if a poison that took a few hours to take effect was used.

"I guess we still can't really point the finger until we can figure out what type of poison was used," Kanonno said.

"I don't know much about poisons," Veigue started to say. "But the poisons that I saw were ones that would take hours to take effect."

"Unless it was destroyed," Sorey suddenly exclaimed as he realized it for himself.

"But destroying school property is against the rules," Stahn pointed out.

"Not unless it was done by the blackened," Sorey pointed out. "Monokuma said that when you become the blacken you're excluded from most of the rules. So destroying all the deadly poisons to help cover your tracks would be acceptable. Right Monokuma?"

"It would make it hard for the blacken to get away if they had to abide by all the rules," Monokuma answered. "I want this game to be fair for everyone after all."

"How can this game be fair when the rules always change," Lloyd complained.

"So it's very possible that there was some instant poison," Ludger pointed out.

"That would also explain why Kor was in the library with a mug," Yuri added.

"So the blackened randomly poisoned the food at the party," Velvet started to sum up. "This was both to throw us off when the victim was fatally poisoned and to pick a victim."

"They must have lured Kor out to the library and put the poison in the mug," Sorey finished.

"But how would he have gotten the mug?" Milla asked.

That startled Sorey. "Huh?"

"The cafeteria is closed during nighttime," she answered. "So how could the blackened or even Kor have gotten the mug?"

"Easy, they took it from the kitchen when they snuck in to poison the food," Yuri said simply. "And I believe after you left one of the mugs disappeared."

"How in the world can you know that?" Luke exclaimed for no reason.

"If you're cooking in a kitchen, you should always be aware of what's in your kitchen," Yuri answered.

"I wasn't the only one that went into the kitchen," Milla pointed out.

At that Stahn rubbed the side of his head. "But I didn't do it," he defended.

"There's also another person," Yuri said. He pointed to Jude, "Jude could have been the one to kill Kor and Milla was just his accomplice."

Jude looked a bit horrified while Milla wore the same dark look as she did when Jude was accused in the first trial.

"But Jude had admitted earlier that he was the killer," Lloyd said. "If he was really the blackened, then why would he admit it?"

"They could have been working together," Luke suddenly shouted as he realized it. "They knew each other before all this. So they must have worked together so they could get out together."

"There can only be one blackened," Milla suddenly snapped. "The rules state that only the person that commits the murder can be the blackened and leave."

"That's...not stated in the rules anywhere," Sorey pointed out hesitantly.

Milla must have realized her mistake the way her eyes widened. Sorey felt his heart fall. _So it was Milla,_ he thought bitterly. But why?

Almost as if confirming it, Monokuma gave a chuckle. "Whops, did I forget to add that rule?"

"So that is a rule," Velvet said.

"Milla, how did you know that was a rule?" Ludger asked.

"Because I asked Monokuma and told Milla," Jude suddenly shouted. "I wanted to see if it was possible for her and I to get out of this. So I'm the blackened."

"Jude," Milla just muttered.

"But Jude, your actions don't make sense if you're the blackened," Sorey told him. "Plus you admitted that you were the first one to find Kor. Your discovery wouldn't have counted if you were the blackened."

"She tried to stop me," Jude tried to defend. "She was the first one to discover Kor. She was just protecting me."

"But it would make more sense if it was the other way around," Velvet said. "You don't look like a killer. You feel guilt, but you didn't kill Kor."

"No, you're wrong, it was me," Jude shouted. "I poisoned Kor, it was all me. Milla couldn't have done it. She's innocent."

"Just drop it," Velvet said darkly. "You die too if Milla gets away with it."

"The only reason you believe it's Milla is because you think it was instant poison that killed Kor," Jud tried to defend. "But you all have no proof of that. The poison would have had been administered when Kor was with me. Milla couldn't have done that because she was helping Sorey clean his room after it was trashed last night."

"Wait a minute," Luke suddenly said sounding like he just figured something out. "What it Sorey was the one to trash his own room. He must be the one that killed Kor."

Luke may have sounded very sure of himself. But thankfully no one else was buying that.

"Luke, we've already talked about that," Asbel said with a sigh. "Kor couldn't have been poisoned last night and ended up in the library the next day."

"Yeah, and why would Sorey trash his own room?" Lloyd said.

"Not really the point," Yuri said as he rolled his eyes.

Luke looked embarrassed. But he didn't go on.

"Well I did poison Kor and I even helped get him to the library so it would confuse you all how he did," Jude kept trying to claim.

"That's enough Jude," Milla said in a calm voice. Even though she would be facing death, she said with a smile, "I asked Monokuma about the rule so Jude and I could escape together. But that's not possible. I'm the only blackened. I killed Kor. Vote me as the blackened." Sorey could tell Milla was being honest. Her eyes looked sad, but she wore a smile.

"No, Milla," Jude muttered.

"It's as Yuri said, I grabbed a mug from the kitchen after I poisoned a soup," Milla explained. "Once Kor left the Nurse's office, I left a note in his room saying I had an idea about how to get out of this place."

Sorey supposed that would have tempted anyone. Especially after the motive videos they were all desperate to get out. Everyone still had a little bit of doubt since Jude and Milla had been covering for one another. But the case was stronger for Milla.

"There I put poison in his drink and he died shortly after," Milla finished. "Jude was there, but after the fact, in fact, he tried to resuscitate Kor, but it was too late."

"I think we're ready then," Velvet said with no emotion in her voice.

"So are you all ready to vote?" Monokuma asked. He jumped up in his seat. "Vote in your e-handbooks if you're ready."

Very slowly, everyone pulled their e-handbooks out and cast their vote.

Once everyone cast their vote, Monokuma gave another laugh. "Let's see if you picked the right one or the dreadfully wrong one? I can't way to see."

The screen lowered and Milla's face appeared on the screen. Twelve out of thirteen votes for her. Sorey knew who didn't vote for Milla. Then the words "Congratulations" appeared at the bottom of the screen and the same confetti fell again.

"Oh man, two in a row, way to go," Monokuma said with a wide creepy grin.

But no one was celebrating. Jude was gripping the podium in front of him.

"Milla, how could you do that to Kor?" Lloyd suddenly shouted.

Milla didn't say anything and it was Jude that said angrily, "It was because of her motive video. She had no choice."

"We all saw people we cared about being threatened," Asbel stated. "But none of us went that far."

"My motive was the entire world," Milla said simply.

Everyone paused hearing that. _Her motive...was the world?_ Sorey couldn't really wrap his head around that.

"Look it might just be quicker just to show you," Monokuma said as he lowered a screen down. Milla's motive video started playing. It was similar to how Sorey's began. This one too had a picture of a quaint little village similar to the one Sorey grew up in.

" _Milla Maxwell, the summon spirit that can almost be considered a god in human's eyes."_

 _A summon spirit?_ Sorey wondered as he glanced at Milla who wasn't giving any reaction at all.

 _"She is fascinated with humans and would do anything for their survival. So wouldn't it be a shame if while she was gone that they all just died?"_ The next image showed a bloodied battle field. " _If she's missing for much longer, then everyone might die because she failed in her mission. But maybe it's already too late. Only one way to find out."_

The video ended and everyone pretty much stared in horror. The world might be in danger? Could that have been what happened or will happen to the ones they cared about?

"She was trying to save the world," Sorey said out loud.

"And you all have condemned her to death," Monokuma said with a laugh.

"Is that why you didn't really have a target?" Yuri asked. "You didn't know who you were going to trade for the world."

"Correct," Milla said simply. "I had already decided that a few lives for the rest of the world was well worth it."

"That's not right," Lloyd said. "I know that this was the whole world, but was Kor's life really worth that? That wasn't fair to Kor."

"Don't forget that the rest of us would have died too if she had gotten away with it," Luke exclaimed.

"I can see why you think that," Milla agreed. "But I at least saw it as the only option to save all humans."

"And Jude, you knew that Milla was the culprit the whole time," Sorey pointed out. "That's why you were in the library this morning."

"I came in just as Kor died," Jude said. "I already knew what her motive video was. So once it was over, I knew that if anyone was to get out, it needed to be Milla. All of use saw people we care about, well Milla cares about everyone. So she'll be able to save everyone else. This was the best situation."

"So you thought this was the best solution for everyone," Ludger muttered.

"Listen, I get it," Yuri admitted. "But I'm not willing to throw my life away for some video Monokuma made."

"That's right," Lloyd stated. "We could have worked together."

"Perhaps we could have," Milla mused amusly. She was so calm considering that she was going to have to face her punishment. She must have been "But who knows. Maybe you all will."

"Okay, okay," Monokuma interrupted. "Let's get onto the best part."

Milla had no expression. Sorey didn't know what to think. He didn't want any more to die. But considering the reason why Milla killed Kor...

"Monokuma, please, let me go in Milla's place," Jude begged.

"No can do," Monokuma said. "Only the blackened can be punished. Otherwise the rules would be pointless."

"No," Jude kept pleading.

"Jude, it is quite alright," Milla told him with a smile before she started to walk towards Monokuma. "I did do something awful, and I must pay for it."

Jude was fighting back tears

"I have to ask though," Milla started to say as she looked back at them. "Yuri, did you know it was me the whole time?" Milla asked.

"If I did, would I have just gone around in circles with the others?" Yuri answered with another question.

Milla actually started to chuckle a bit. "I see, you certainly are an interesting human. But be careful that you don't put all the burden on your shoulders." A smile was on Milla's face as she looked at them. "I am truly sorry for risking your lives. Since I have failed in my mission, my hope now is that you can stop this game and Monokuma. Please don't make the same mistake as me. Farwell."

"Now, I've prepared a very special punishment for the Hero of Xillia, Milla Maxwell," Monokuma then announced with a chuckle. "IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" The same button raised in front of Monokuma and he pulled out a hammer to hit it with.

"Milla," Jude shouted.

/~/~/

 _Milla was placed on a stage and she was tied to a stake. Hundred of people in robes were appearing with stones in their hands._

 _Monokuma appeared appeared and raised a hand flag. At that, the people started throwing the rocks at her. Several of them landed on their mark. Each of the people only got to throw one or two before they stopped. Milla was bruised and bloodied from the stones. Though she was in pain, she still wore a defiant smile._

 _Monokuma then quickly hurried up to the stake with a torch in hand. He lit the wood underneath Milla and somehow she instantly went up in flames._

 _While it did look like she was pain from the burns, it wasn't hot enough to eat at Milla. Milla's teeth were gritted. She seemed determined to not scream in pain._

 _A giant gust a wind suddenly came. It was so strong that it choked out the fire, The wind was cutting into Milla and even cut the ropes that was holding Milla to the stake. But she didn't run because she was holding her breath. With the wind choking out the fire, it was also choking the air out of Milla._

 _But right when she was at her limit, the wind died down. Milla was able to catch her breath, but not for long. It started to rain._

 _Milla looked up, probably curious how it could rain inside. But she didn't get to wonder long because the area was practically flooded. It had caught Milla off guard and with her injuries. She didn't last long under water._

 _Monokuma must have known, because the water drained._

 _Milla's body was so still._

/~/~/

The video cut out and they all stayed in the same silence as when they watched Senel. There weren't as many tears as last time since they were numb to it. Jude was the only one. He was on all fours screaming into the floor.

Sorey felt his heart tighten for Jude. He must have cared deeply for Milla. So to watch her die like that…

Monokuma started laughing. "That was a much better trial," the bear said. "Keep this up and I might have to give you an additional reward."

At that Jude practically jumped up. "You really think we're just going to keep on going and entertain you for your own perversion?"

"Hey it's not just for my entertainment," Monokuma said. "There are other reasons for this killing game."

Jude looked like he was going to attack Monokuma. "Jude," Ludger started to say. He went to grab Jude's shoulder.

But Jude swiped his hand away. "She shouldn't have been the one to die," he snapped with tears still falling from his eyes.

"She killed Kor," Lloyd tried to reason. "None of us wanted this."

"What's done is done," Velvet told him plainly. "If you're in that much despair, then attack Monokuma like you want and get punished. You'll be able to join your friend."

Jude just fell back to his knees and started to weep again.

"Shame, I really thought I'd be rid of one less competitor," Velvet commented as she walked past them toward the elevator.

"Velvet," Sorey called out. But his voice faltered. He really didn't know what to say.

"Please, I don't want to go through this again," Kanonno said with her eyes started to water.

"We have to work together to get out of here," Asbel said. "So next time, we should all come together when Monokuma gives us a motive."

"Sorry," Veigue suddenly said. "You ask us to trust one another, but we do not even know each other. Look at what happened to the two people that did know and trust each other." He motioned toward Jude who was so consumed in his grief to even notice what they were talking about.

No, this was exactly what Monokuma wanted. Some of the others seemed to be considering what Veigue was saying. "Fine," Sorey said. "Then I guess I'm just going to have to work extra hard to earn your trust."

Veigue looked startled. Maybe because he was embarrassed, he turned around so none of them were looking at his face.

Sorey looked at where Velvet was waiting for the elevator. _And I'm going to get you to trust me too. We're all going to get out of here._

/~/~/

They were all walking back to their rooms. Despite what Sorey said, everyone still looked gloomy. That's was okay. Sorey was going to start getting everyone to trust him starting tomorrow.

"Hey Yuri, can I ask you something?" Emil suddenly said.

"Since you asked without stuttering, I guess I should," Yuri said. Sorey hung back to listen too.

"Did...did you know this whole time Milla killed Kor?" Emil asked with a little hesitation at the beginning of the sentence.

"I had my suspicion that it was either Jude or Milla, maybe even Ludger, and that who ever the blackened at least had someone who knew they did it," Yuri said honestly.

"But why didn't you say anything?" Emil asked. "You were even a suspect at one point.

It then hit Sorey. All of Yuri's actions today were starting to make sense. Why he was vague, why he hinted at stuff during the trial. After the first trial, Monokuma did threaten " _Be sure you make the next murder and trial a bit more interesting. Let's have some twists and turns next time. I want to see backstabbing and minds blown. Come on people, let's see some excitement."_

"Were you really worried about Monokuma's threat?" Sorey asked.

Yuri just shrugged. "I thought it would be better to treat everything Monokuma said as a threat. Don't worry, I would have said something if everyone started suspecting someone completely wrong."

"I knew you must have had a reason," Sorey said with a smile. "I trust your judgement."

"Well trust me when I say this," Yuri started to say. "Don't do anything stupid just to earn somebody's trust."

Milla's words were starting to make sense. Yuri worried about other people. He was really who needed to watch out. But Sorey smiled. "Don't worry."

Yuri just let out a sigh. "Just watch out for yourself. We can't afford to make mistakes in this place." He then walked to his room.

"I never thought Yuri would be the one trying to protect everyone," Emil commented.

"Yeah, but he's trying to do it all by himself," Sorey said sadly. "That's what has me worried."

/~/~/

 _Chapter 2: Budding Friendships Leave To The Biggest Betrayals Ends_

 _Contestants Remaining: 12_


	10. Chapter 3

Sorry for the late response. I was at an anime convention last week.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: You Think You Know Thee, Thus You Fail**

It was morning, and it started like any other day. Monokuma made an announcement like he did every morning. Everything just felt the same other than the crushing weight of seeing two more friends die.

Sorey wanted to say with confidence that another killing game couldn't happen again. They've faced Monokuma's motive of threatening the people they cared about. There wasn't much worse Monokuma could do to entice them to kill one another.

But the mystery behind Milla's motive was hanging over all of them. " _My motive was the entire world,"_ she said. Did she see something horrible like they did? She would have had to if it drove her to kill someone. So did that mean the world was in danger?

They've established that they might all just be from different worlds or times. So were all their worlds in danger? It was just all so confusing.

Suddenly there came a knock at his door. It started Sorey out of his thoughts and he quickly went to answer it. He was more startled to see Emil at his door. The young man seemed to jump even though he was the one that knocked on Sorey's door.

"Good morning Emil," Sorey began.

"G-good morning," Emil said.

They were both silent for a moment. Sorey wanted say something like, " _You're the one that knocked."_ But instead, he said, "So what did you need?"

"W-well," Emil started to say. He looked nervous about asking. He wouldn't look at Sorey, but he did manage to say, "I thought it would be best if we walked to breakfast in a group."

While two people couldn't really be considered a group, he at least understood where Emil was coming from. After all that had happen, he could understand why Emil wouldn't want to go anywhere alone.

"Sure, I hope Yuri and Ludger made a lot," Sorey commented with a smile.

So the two of them walked to the cafeteria together. They didn't talk any. But Sorey could tell Emil was slightly more relaxed walking with someone.

Most everyone was already in the cafeteria and the table had some food on it. It looked like both Yuri and Ludger were cooking. But Sorey was really concerned when he didn't see Jude.

He was always one that was here before Sorey.

"I'd give Jude some time to himself," Yuri suddenly said. "He and Milla were friends before all this started. He needs some time to mourn."

"Yeah," Sorey muttered. He and Emil joined everyone else at the table to eat. The happy mood they had at their meals the previous days were gone. Everyone was mourning after losing Kor and Milla. Stahn had even woke himself up for the first time. Even more shocking was the fact he wasn't eating much. It was strange not seeing him and Milla scarf food down.

They weren't long before the mood turned worse. Monokuma just appeared on the table. "Oh man, feel the despair in the room," Monokuma said sounding way too happy. "Man, I don't think you all were that sad over Cress and Senel. Wouldn't they be sad to know that you didn't care about them?"

Majority of them got visibly upset. Lloyd practically jumped to his feet. "We did care about them. How can you say otherwise?"

"Besides, it's all your fault they're dead," Luke pointed his finger at the bear.

Monokuma gave a sigh. "How many times do I have to tell you, that's against the rules for me to kill one of you all. And each time it was one of you all that did the killing. I didn't tell them anything."

"No, but you gave them the motive," Asbel stated. "So you pretty much the reason why Cress and Kor are dead."

"I would also like to point out that those executions were your doing," Yuri pointed out. "Are you really saying you didn't have anything to do with Senel or Milla's death?"

"A crime is still a crime," Monokuma explained. "So would you really punish an executioner carrying out justice? If you executed the executioner for killing someone, then you would just have an endless cycle of killings. And it could only end in two ways; continues until there is only one person left in the world, or then the killer kills themselves to end the cycle."

Everyone was quiet because they didn't have any type of comeback for that. Sorey had to admit that Monokuma had a point. A twisted point. This was the first time Sorey had thought about Monokuma being an executioner and actually being the reason Senel and Milla were dead. He had really only been blaming him as the reason Senel and Milla killed in the first place. He still thought that. But for the actual deaths of Senel and Milla.

"Even though you all have been doing nothing but complaining, I'm still going to give you all your prize for making it to this round," Monokuma said.

"Keep it, we don't want it," Asbel snapped.

"Figured as much," Monokuma said. "I told the other person about the prize and she's already exploring. So no take backs."

"Velvet," Sorey said when he realized it.

"The second floor to the dorm area is now open to you all," Monokuma went on to tell them.

"There's a second floor?" Ludger asked out loud.

There was only one way out of the dorm area and that was through the hallway to the school. There weren't even any stairs.

"Y'all need to be more aware of your surroundings," Monokuma said. "The stairs are just right by the cafeteria. Check it out for yourself." Monokuma jumped off the table and waddled away.

That left the rest of them to decide. Luke was the first one to say, "What if Monokuma planted another weapon? We can't let Velvet get it."

"But no one even found it," Asbel said. "He may have just said that to mess with us."

"Couldn't the poison have been the weapon Monokuma was talking about?" Stahn suggested. "I mean, that is how Kor died."

It could have been. But it was like Yuri said. Anything could be used as a deadly weapon. Sorey stood up then. "Well, I'm going to make sure there are no surprises," Sorey told them. This wasn't him not trusting Velvet. He just wanted to know more about the area he was forced in.

/~/~/

Everyone else joined Sorey in the search. It would be more nerve wracking to not know what was above their heads while they slept.

On the second floor was what looked like a lounge area. There were a few couches and tables where people could play some cards games. There were windows, but like the others, they were covered with the metal slabs. For some reason, Monokuma seemed to have decided to decorate them with colorful curtains.

There were only two other doors with signs that said, girls' locker room and boys' locker room.

"Locker rooms," Lloyd read sounding confused.

"We need to search every area," Veigue said.

"Kanonno, will you be okay looking in the girls' locker room by yourself?" Asbel asked.

"Of course," Kanonno said with a smile. "Besides, Velvet will probably be there. So I'm not worried."

"You should be worried," Luke exclaimed. "She's the most dangerous one."

He says that, but they had already gone through two trials and Velvet hadn't so much as acted suspicious in those murders. But Sorey really hoped he could trust everyone.

"Come on, let's just find out what the rest of our _prize_ is," Yuri commented and was motioning for Luke to follow.

Kanonno walked into the girls' locker room by herself without hesitation while a few of the guys took a few more steps than necessary. Sorey ended up in the back of the line, so he could hear Luke shouting, "What the hell, it's just a normal locker room."

"What exactly were you expecting?" Sorey could hear Ludger ask by the time he walked in. Sorey had never seen a locker room. But it he would have to agree that it looked pretty normal. There were benches and three rows of lockers. There were also two more doors. One said "Bath" and the other one said "Pool".

"Hey, they have our names on them," Lloyd reported.

Sorey looked at one that was closest to him, and written on it was Jude's name. "Make sure yours doesn't have a weapon in it," Luke ordered.

"Monokuma didn't even say there was a weapon hidden," Asbel muttered.

"But that does sound like something Monokuma would do," Yuri pointed out as he was looking for his.

"Sorey, yours is over here," Lloyd called out.

One by one, each of them found their names and tried to open them. But before Sorey could even attempt it, he heard Luke cursing. "Damn it, why won't it open for me?" He complained as he started kicking it.

"Hey, hey, no damage to school property," Monokuma suddenly snapped as he seemed to have jumped out of nowhere.

They should be used to this by now, but several of them still jumped at Monokuma's appearance. Sorey was one of them.

"So you just have a bunch of lockers with our names on them that we can't open?" Stahn asked.

Monokuma's angry scowl disappeared as he went to explain, "Of course you're able to open them, you just need to have your e-handbook to open them. That way you can store whatever you want without fear of your classmates stealing it. Perfect for hiding your potential murder weapon."

While Monokuma was talking, Yuri had ignored the last part of what the bear had said and used his e-handbook to open his locker. "Mine's empty," he reported.

"Same," Asbel said. All of their lockers were empty.

"Of course they're empty," Monokuma told them. "I didn't want you to be discouraged from hiding things."

"Where are Kor, Senel, and Cress' lockers?" Veigue asked.

"Well it's not like they need it anymore," Monokuma told them bluntly. "So I never assigned them a locker."

"Whatever," Luke snapped. "Where did you put the weapon?"

Monokuma just tilted his head to the side. "I didn't put a new one since the last one I placed still hasn't been used even though someone does have it."

It was alarming to hear from Monokuma had indeed placed a weapon. But it was more concerning that someone in their group has it in their haven't they said anything.

"Damnit, Velvet must have found it," Luke complained.

"Anyone could have it," Veigue said.

"Guys, you're really going to ignore the main prize?" Monokuma said sounding rather hurt.

"What? Are you talking about the bath?" Asbel said pointing to one of the doors.

"What's special about it, each of our rooms has a full bathroom in it," Ludger said.

For some reason, that made Monokuma's head drop. "Fine, so part one of them prizes was a bust. Will you at least act happy with the second part," he said as he slowly started waddling toward the door that led to the pool.

Most of them just shrugged and followed the bear. They needed to search everything after all. It was again what they were going to do. But they weren't too keen on following Monokma.

The pool area might have been a nice indoor facility if wasn't for the fact that there weren't any windows. There was water in the pool and it was pretty deep. It was the type that they were expected to swim laps in.

"So how is this a good prize?" Asbel asked.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm certainly not swimming in this place," Yuri commented.

"Knowing Monokuma, he probably put something deadly in that," Luke said.

Monokuma's head seemed to hang even lower. "I see, I guess I'll have to do better next time," he muttered as he slowly started walking away from them.

Nobody said anything after the bear, which Sorey could have sworn that Monokuma looked more depressed that no one tried to stop him. Of course none of them cared how he felt.

"W-where is Kanonno?" Emil suddenly said.

It was then that they realized that it was all guys. Kanonno hadn't come out yet. It wasn't that concerning until Luke just shouted, "Velvet must have gotten her."

Sorey definitely didn't think that was a case. But Luke managed to stir some hysteria. Lloyd, Asbel, and Stahn ran toward the girls' locker room.

Before they could even touch the door handle, Monokuma had jumped right in front of them. "Hold it right there you pervs," Monokuma snapped with a sudden mood change. "I didn't think I would have add this rule, but you leave me no choice."

They could hear beeping sounds coming from their e-handbooks. Sorey pulled his out and read, **School Rule #15:** Participants must not enter areas designated for the opposite gender.

"Oh come," Lloyd said. "We're just wanting to make sure that Kanonno is okay."

"No buts," Monokuma said. "As headmaster, I have to keep this PG... maybe PG-13 since I'm asking you all to kill one another."

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Yuri said with a tired sigh.

"The rules are the rules," Monokuma said firmly.

The door to the girls' locker room opened and had nearly hit Monokuma. Out walked Velvet with Kanonno behind her. "What is the commotion about?" Velvet asked just sounding annoyed.

"Kanonno, you're okay," Luke cried out.

"I told you I would be," Kanonno said."

"Like I'd try to kill someone when you still think I'm the prime suspect," Velvet muttered.

"Now that we're all together," Monokuma said after he cleared his throat. "I'll go ahead and add in the pool rules. School Rule # 16 is no swimming at nighttime. It's too dangerous with no lifeguard around. Everything else is primited."

"Nobody cares about the pool," Yuri snapped and that actually made Monokuma hang his head low again.

They ended up finding nothing useful that day.


	11. Chapter 3 Daily Life

Sorry this is so short. It just made more sense to cut it like this because of what will happen after this.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Daily Life**

The next morning, Sorey woke up and headed to the cafeteria. But he was surprised and pleased to see Jude sitting at the table. He even had a plate of food in front of him.

However he wasn't eating and he looked like he hadn't slept since the trial.

Sorey opened his mouth, but he was about to ask something like "Are you okay?" He was obviously not.

So he settled on saying, "I'm glad to see you out."

Jude didn't say anything. In fact he looked like he didn't hear him. At that time, more of the others were showing up and saying something similar to Jude. A few of them even asked if he was okay? Regardless, he didn't respond to any of them.

The air was a lot different now that Jude join them. No one was cutting up or talking much. And Jude kept sitting looking absently at his food.

Just before they were all done eating. Monokuma then jumped in. "Good morning," he said in a sing song way. "Are you all ready for your next motive?"

"Don't tell us you're going to make us watch those videos again," Kanonno said and squeezed her eyes shut like Monokuma would show them their video's right there.

"No, this is a new motive. The old one won't work no more," Monokuma said.

"Wait, does that mean the people we saw in our video are safe now?" Asbel demanded.

Monokuma cocked his head. "Umm…" he started to say and he seemed to start sweating (somehow for a robot bear). "Sure, lets go with that."

"Wait, what about those videos you showed us," Yuri snapped as he jumped up from his chair. "We all saw things destroyed. So what, was that all fake or something?"

Sorey's eyes widen. If what Yuri was suggesting was true, then that meant Milla killed Kor for nothing. Somehow that was far worse then.

"No those were real," Monokuma said calmly. It about made everyone's heart stop. Gramps and the others were still in danger. "I can't give any spoilers, but those are still considered motives. I'm just adding a new one because some of you weren't motivated at all."

 _Velvet,_ Sorey realized. She said she saw nothing. This is bad. Velvet was already motivated. If Monokuma gave her another one, she might do something reckless.

"Drum roll please for your next motive," Monokuma said. But no one did that. Monokuma then pulled a picture out from behind him. "If you successfully graduate, you get to leave and have ten million dollars, I mean gald. Whatever the hell that is."

"You're really trying to bribe us to killing someone?" Yuri said sounding annoyed.

"No way would any of us kill over some gald," Lloyd argue.

Sorey was starting to think they caught a break. Probably not even Velvet would take that. So they still only had to deal with the motive videos.

"Upfufuf," Monokuma started chuckling. "You never know," Monokuma started to say. "Someone may be needing money to start a journey. Or maybe they need to wipe away a huge debt. Who knows. Well, happy plotting." With that, the bear jumped down from the table and disappeared.

"Ludger, you're drooling," Stahn suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone looked back to see Ludger wiping his mouth. "It was the food," Ludger defended. But he wouldn't look anyone in the eye.

"Ludger, are you needing money?" Kanonno asked.

Ludger dropped his head. "I have a huge debt to pay," Ludger admitted.

"Thanks for the honesty Ludger," Yuri said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but no one should be alone with Ludger."

Ludger just nodded weakly. It would be best to keep the temptation away from Ludger.

"Anyone else own or need gald?" Asbel asked.

"If we get out of here, my parents will pay all of you," Luke offered.

That was surprising generous of Luke. Sorey was surprised. Then again, it was a way to keep themselves. This might be the only time when throwing money at a problem would work.

No one else said they did, so it was just Ludger they needed to worry about. They all got up to make the day pass quicker.

Sorey noticed that Jude wasn't getting up. He was still in the same position as when they first started eating breakfast.

"Jude," Sorey started to say.

Yuri came up to stop him. "He needs some space for himself," he said.

"But," Sorey started to argue. He couldn't just leave Jude alone. He probably just needed a friend.

"Jude is now in the same boat as the rest of us. He just lost the one person he thought he could trust. Now he feels what it's like to be alone in a killing game," Yuri explained.

The rest of them had already gone through those feelings. They each at least had someone they were comfortable being alone with. Jude had lost Milla, the person he thought he could have relied on. Sorey started to imagine being in his shoes, but stopped. He didn't want to think about one of his friends being here with him no matter how secure that made him feel. Looking at Jude, Sorey wondered if this was how everyone that first day.

/~/~/

Free Time!

There was still plenty of time left in the day. Sorey wanted to talk to Jude, but he still wasn't responding.

Sorey decided to try talking to Velvet again. He felt that if he tried a bit more he might be able to learn a bit more about her. But she wasn't saying anything. She clearly didn't want to talk to him. He took it as progress though since she wasn't threatening or glaring at him.

"So do you want to share anything or will I be talking more about myself?" Sorey asked.

"I definitely don't want to hear any more," she snapped. There was a bit of pain on her face.

"Velvet, are you okay?" Sorey asked.

Velvet was silent for a moment. "Velvet, please just talk to me," Sorey said. "If something is bothering you, I want to help however I can."

"You are the one that is bothering me," Velvet just snapped. "Why...why are you like him? Are you just here to torment me?" She then stormed away.

Sorey had just been so startled that he couldn't even think of what he could have said to her. But he really wondered who he reminded her of.

 _Sorey completed three out of four friendship fragments._

/~/~/

There was still a little bit of time left, so Sorey decided to talk with Lloyd again.

"Lloyd, so I've been researching a bit about blacksmithing in the library," Sorey told him.

"You're really excited about that, huh," Lloyd said casually.

Lloyd wasn't talking like he did last time. "Did something happen?" Sorey asked.

"Well...I've just been thinking and I'm kind of board with the idea. I'm glad my Dad taught me what I know, but I think I want to do more. I'll of course still show you what I know," Lloyd quickly added the last sentence.

"Oh, I get it," Sorey said. But he wasn't able to hide his disappointment. "So what are you wanting to do when we get out of here?"

"I definitely want to finish the journey I was on. After that, I think I want to travel the world in a boat," Lloyd told him.

"Wow, that would be cool," Sorey said. Although he had read how dangerous the sea could be with storms and monsters. Regardless that would be amazing to just go anywhere you wanted. "There's probably no telling how many ruins you'd get to explore."

"You're really into that stuff, huh?" Lloyd commented.

Sorey just grinned. "I guess you could say that's my dream. I want to explore all the ruins."

Lloyd then gave a nervous laugh. "Man, you might get along perfectly with Professor Sage. I don't know how Genis will feel about that."

"Professor? Are they an archaeologist too?"

"I guess that's what she is," Lloyd said with a deep sigh. "She goes crazy whenever she sees old stuff and tries to figure them out. She'd spend countless hours studying them if we let her. Dude, you look just like her now," Lloyd said the last part a little startled.

"Please Lloyd, introduce me to this person, she sounds amazing," Sorey asked. There was probably no telling what he could learn from her. Plus he and Mikleo would get a whole new perspective on investigating ruins.

Lloyd actually looked scared at that. "No way, there shouldn't be two ruin maniacs. No one would be able to handle it," Lloyd stated and started moving away.

"Come on Lloyd," Sorey begged as he followed after him.

 _Sorey completed two out of four friendship fragments with Lloyd._


	12. Chapter 3 Daily Life Part 2

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Daily Life 2

The two more days passed with no incidents. It was as relatively peaceful as it could have been considering where they were. On the third day of after Monokuma gave them their motive, he called them to meet in the gym.

Everyone was there, even Jude who still hadn't said much after the last trial. Yuri had told Sorey that Jude needed space, but he was really starting to worry for him.

Monokuma was on the podium and he was looking depressed. "I can't believe you all. How come none of you have even tried killing each other," he said.

"None of us are going to kill for gald," Yuri told the bear.

Monokuma gave a sigh. "I guess I should have figured that." Then he suddenly brightened up. "All righty, I guess I'll have to use this motive, I was going to save this one for later."

Monokuma hurried off stage to the back. They could hear him moving and throwing stuff. Very soon he was back and was holding up a ticket. "So forget the money," Monokuma exclaimed. "The new motive will be this one way ticket home."

"Isn't that already what we get?" Luke complained.

"Well yeah," Monokuma said with looking disappointed for a split second before going on to explain. "But this ticket will not only send you back home, it can also send you back whenever you want."

At first Sorey didn't see how this would have been a better motive than the gald. But he could feel the air get tense. Monokuma went on further to explain. "Do any of you have something you regret? Someone you wish you could have saved? Maybe change certain events. With this special ticket, I can send you back to whatever time you want. A few days before you started playing this game or even a few years so you can stop some horrible event. Whenever you want. But I'll have to limit it, you can't go before you were born or even the future. Just a time within your current life time."

"You expect us to believe that that's possible?" Asbel snapped.

Monokuma just tilted his head. "Look, you've all established that I've taken you all from different worlds and even time," Monokuma said. "So would it really be that hard for me to do?"

Everyone fell silent. Sorey was thinking of all the theories they had of Monokuma and all they had seen him do. It didn't seem too far fetched if everything was true.

And if that was true, then what would they do?

/~/~/

Sorey was a little slower returning. He was still thinking about the motive Monokuma just gave them. "Do you have any regrets in your past?" Yuri suddenly asked.

Sorey had been in deep thought that Yuri had startled him. He tried his best to not show that since Yuri would probably just scold him again for not paying attention. "No, nothing like that. Just thinking."

"Monokuma's new motive is definitely worrisome," Yuri muttered. "He really knows how to get under everyone's skin."

"Do you have some regrets Yuri?" Sorey asked as he remembered the motive video. That one had really gotten to Yuri and they had helped to hold each other accountable.

Yuri was silent for a moment. Then he replied, "Nah, I'd honestly do everything the same again, minus a few detours. But it's not worth the price."

Not that Sorey thought that Yuri would have, but it was still a relief to hear him say that. "I wonder thought," Sorey started to speculate. "What would Monokuma do if none of us are interested in this motive too."

"He'd probably just keep giving us different motives until we kill someone," Yuri said.

Sorey thoughts some more. "Do you think it could be possible that he'd run out of ideas?" He asked.

"It could happen," Yuri commented. "I doubt Monokuma could keep coming up with ideas forever."

Hearing that, Sorey felt himself getting hopeful. "Maybe if we keep ignoring these motives long enough, Monokuma will let us go. If you can't control us to play this stupid game, then why keep us here?"

Sorey didn't notice, but Yuri had a doubtful look that he was trying to hide. He didn't get to say anything because he suddenly heard shouting.

"Leave me alone!" Emil yelled and they quickly saw him rushing out of the cafeteria.

Before Sorey had a chance to call after him, they saw Lloyd come out of the cafeteria with Ludger. Lloyd had a defeat look on his face.

"What's going on?" Yuri asked.

"Emil just freaked out," Ludger said.

"He just looked like he was so worried," Lloyd said. "I was just trying to reassure him. Then he just got up and ran."

Emil was skittish, but to run away from Lloyd and Ludger? Sorey then felt worried. He didn't know much about Emil, but was there something Emil wished he could have changed?

Yuri then put his hand on Sorey's shoulder. "I know what you're thinking. But not now, we've got bigger things to worry about," he said.

Ludger nodded. "Right, we need to assess this new motive."

"Emil can't do much on his own," Yuri reassured. "Let's check on everyone else and then we can find Emil."

"I wouldn't bother," Luke's voice suddenly said. He was walking toward them looking annoyed. "He just ran into me and didn't even apologize. Not to mention he told me to get out of the way. Can you believe that?"

The over apologetic Emil didn't say sorry to Luke? That really made Sorey worry about Emil. That didn't sound like him.

"Later," Yuri told him.

They all went in to have their meal. The only ones absent were Velvet, of course, Emil, and Jude. At first their meal was silent until Yuri spoke up. "So none of you all are actually believing Monokuma's motive, right?"

"It's hard to believe that he could do something like that," Asbel muttered.

"Monokuma may be asking us to kill someone for it, but it still sounds too good to be true," Yuri went on to explain. "There has to be more strings attached then just killing someone."

There were a few nods, but no words. Sorey felt his stomach drop as he saw that the others must have been considering it.

Of all people, Veigue spoke up. "But what if we could go back and stop this from even happening?"

"And how would you stop Monokuma?" Yuri asked.

Veigue was silent.

"That's right, we don't even know how Monokuma got us here," Kanonno said. "My head is still a little fuzzy before I got here."

"Same," Stahn admitted.

Sorey thought back. When he first got here, he thought he needed to still help the plague town. But then he suddenly remembered purifying the town. Was there more of his missing memory? He hadn't even considered that there was more of his memory that was missing. "If we can't remember how Monokuma even got us here, then we can't even guarantee that we stand a chance against defeating Monokuma."

"But some of us would have our powers, surely-" Veigue started to say.

"Not all of us have powers," Yuri told him. "Besides, Monokuma might take someone else."

"There's probably a chance that Monokuma hasn't even shown us his own power," Sorey pointed out.

"Good point," Asbel muttered.

"We just need to stay on our toes," Yuri said. "Monokuma just showed us what he would do if we don't do what he wants."

"Look, I'm sure we'd all like to change something," Luke suddenly said. "But what's done is done. I'd rather move on than go back in time."

That was surprising coming from Luke. That almost didn't sound like him.

"Do you think Jude might try to use the ticket?" Stahn suddenly asked.

"He did lose someone very important," Kanonno muttered. "He might want to try and save Milla."

The Jude they had known before Milla's death didn't seem like he would. But now that he lost his friend. If he wanted her back then...

"Let's just call it a day and get some rest," Ludger suggested.

Others nodded and started getting up. Sorey had intentions of going to find Emil. Yuri stopped him. "Sorey," Yuri said when it was just the two of them. "Be careful," was all he said before he left.

Sorey was starting to realize how much Yuri worried about other people. He wondered if Yuri was taking care of himself or was at least sleeping enough.

Sorey ended up turning in because he wasn't able to find Emil anywhere.

/~/~/

It was the next morning. After breakfast, there was still plenty of time left. Sorey really wanted to talk with Emil or even Jude, but neither of them would even open their door to him.

Sorey found Asbel and decided to talk with him.

"So what were you doing before you were brought here?" Sorey asked.

"I was training to become a knight," Asbel answered. "I'm almost a full fledged knight. But…" Asbel suddenly trailed off.

"What happened?" Sorey asked.

There was a pause. "Well," Asbel started. "Right before I got here, I was traveling home. I just heard my father had recently passed and that my hometown was in trouble."

"I'm so sorry," Sorey said feeling bad for even asking.

"Thanks," Asbel muttered. "I wanted to become a knight. But then this happened. Should I really not have left at all?"

"Asbel," Sorey started to say.

Asbel suddenly gave a forced smile. "Sorry, I shouldn't let myself get down. I'll need to stay focused in this place."

"That can't be healthy," Sorey told him. "So if you start to get down, you can just talk with me. I'll listen. I don't know if I could be of any help."

Asbel had a real smile his time. "Thanks. Who knows, maybe just talking about it will help."

"No problem," Sorey said. He was excited with how close he and Asbel had gotten.

Sorey completed one out of four friendship fragment with Asbel.

/~/~/

There was still some time left, and Sorey wanted to talk more with Yuri.

"So do you actually have a question this time?" Yuri asked.

Sorey had figured Yuri would say that. So he did have a question ready for him. "I wanted to know what you were doing before we were brought here. Like were you a soldier or something?"

"What makes you think I was a soldier?" Yuri asked instead.

"Well you look like an expert with those training swords. So I would take a guess that you did something like that."

"I was in a guild," Yuri answered. "I was traveling with some friends doing jobs here and there. Fighting monsters, finding things, things like that."

"A guild," Sorey repeated as he was picturing Yuri in that role. He hadn't had much experience with guilds. "I suppose that would fit you better."

"What makes you say that?" Yuri then asked.

"You just seem like the type of person that likes to help people and I can't really picture you wearing a uniform and answering to somebody," Sorey said. He thought of Alisha and how she acted as a knight. Then thinking of Yuri acting like her as a knight almost made Sorey burst out laughing.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Yuri said.

"Of course I'm sure you would have been a great knight," Sorey went on to say. "You would be great at leading other people and protecting people." He was sure that Alisha wouldn't have such worry over her country if there were more people like Yuri as knights.

"A knight, huh," Yuri muttered. For some reason Yuri really seemed to be thinking about something. But Sorey could only tell that his mood had changed.

"Yuri?" Sorey started to ask sounding worried that he offended Yuri or something.

"Sorry Sorey, it's nothing," Yuri suddenly said in his regular tone. "I've got to go and help prepare dinner. See you later." Yuri hurried off before Sorey had a chance to

Did I say something wrong?" Sorey wondered.

Sorey completed two out of four friendship fragments with Yuri.

/~/~/

It was nine in the morning when Sorey left his room to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. Somehow he had slept past Monokuma's morning announcement after staying up ready really late. He ended up reading a whole book that was called "The Summoner and other similar magical theories." Sorey couldn't hardly put it down.

It was one of the books Jude had said was from his world and it was talking about these beings that were spirits. They didn't seem much different from seraphim. The more Sorey read, the more similarities he spotted. Of course that could have been drowsiness telling him that.

"Geeze, you had some of us worried when you didn't come to breakfast," Yuri chided. It was Yuri's pounding on his door that woke Sorey up.

"Sorry," Sorey said.

"Well let's go see if the others that missed breakfast overslept too," Yuri said with a sigh.

"Who else didn't show up?" Sorey asked.

Before Yuri could tell him, they heard someone shout "H-help!"

It was coming from the cafeteria. "That's Emil," Sorey cried as he hurried to him.

"Sorey wait," Yuri called after him. But he kept up with Sorey easily. They ran into the cafeteria and saw Emil and Velvet. Emil was cowering against the wall and Velvet was holding a knife up to Emil's throat.

"Velvet stop," Yuri shouted. But neither he nor Sorey moved closer in case Velvet went on to hurt Emil.

"Leave now or I'll kill you too," Velvet threatened without taking her eyes off Emil.

"Velvet it's too late, if you kill Emil then you'll loss at the trial," Yuri tried to reason.

"Then I'll just kill all of you," Velvet went on to say. "I'll kill everyone here and get that prize."

"You're doing all of this for the motive?" Sorey spat out.

Velvet then turned so she could see Sorey and Yuri out of the corner of her eye. And Sorey was able to see that Velvet hadn't been getting any sleep the last few days. Her eyes were dark. "This is my chance to make everything right," she said.

"Please, I don't want to die," Emil cried. He was shaking and it was Velvet's hand on his shoulder and knife on his throat that kept him upright.

"I'll kill everyone if I have to," Velvet went on to say. "Then that damn bear will send me back and I can save him."

"Velvet, you have to pass the trial and you won't be able to with a murder like this," Yuri told her. Sorey was a bit startled to hear Yuri talk like that. But he was just trying to get her to stop. He was even moving slightly closer to her. "Even if you kill Sorey and me, the others will be able to figure it out."

Velvet flinched at that. Her arms stayed steady, but her head dropped. "I just want to save him," she muttered. "If I can go back in time. I can kill him and save Laphicet. Everything will be right," she went on to mumble.

She was so consumed with her ramblings that she didn't see Yuri get closer. He first grabbed her wrist holding the knife before tackling her to the ground. The knife fell to the ground and so did Emil. Yuri was working on restraining Velvet and Sorey hurried over to Emil.

"Emil," Sorey called out.

But as he got closer, Emil quickly grabbed the knife and held it out in front of him. "Stay away," he cried. His hands were shaking as he held the knife. But he was understandably still shaken over the whole ordeal. Emil couldn't see who his friends were.

"Everything is okay, we're not going to let anyone hurt you," Sorey reassured. But that didn't ease Emil.

Suddenly Sorey's attention changed when he heard Yuri groan. But before he had a chance to assess what was happening, his heart stopped when he heard the bells.

*Ding*Dong*Ding*Dong.

"A body has been discovered," Monokuma suddenly announced. Sorey's heart stopped. He looked over at Yuri and Velvet. Yuri was holding his stomach. Sorey released the breath he was holding. Velvet had only kicked him. And Emil was still in the same position. Everyone was fine.

Monokuma finished his announcement. "Please report to the pool area."


	13. Chapter 3 Investigation

Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been busy with school and work. But I'm back now!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Investigation Time**

Sorey was still looking at everyone. They were all still taking in what they had just heard. Someone else was dead.

Someone else became a murderer.

"Did you hear that Velvet?" Yuri suddenly said. "Someone else is already dead. So are you going to cooperate or are you just going to cause more problems?" Yuri sounded harsh. But if they didn't work together, then they would all die.

The teams had been set. They all had to work together if they wanted to survive another day in this hell.

Velvet stayed silent, but she had a defeated look. Very slowly, she started walking out. Yuri's face didn't let up until he was sure she was gone, hopefully to the pool area.

However, Yuri had a serious expression as he looked at Sorey and Emil. "Come on, we better hurry," Yuri said.

"Are you okay?" Sorey asked. He hadn't seen Yuri like this. He thought back to all the other times there was a body discovery announcement. Then it dawned on Sorey. "You don't have a clue about this case?"

It was Yuri's turn to be silent. Yuri at least had most of the case already figured out by the time the trial started. It was little, but Sorey could see the shock at hearing the discovery announcement in Yuri's face.

"Well we're not going to figure anything out by just standing here," Yuri said instead.

Sorey just nodded and quickly looked over at Emil who was still sitting on the ground. He looked like he had just barely heard what happened. "Emil," Sorey called out.

Emil flinched when he heard his name and that sadden Sorey. He hadn't thought his voice was harsh sounding or anything.

In a softer tone, Sorey said to him, "Come, we need to see who was killed and find out who did this."

Emil dropped the knife. But he started shaking. "When will this end? I can't handle this anymore," he cried as he held his head.

Before Sorey could say anything to reassure him, it was Yuri that said, "There is no time to think about this." His tone was a bit harsh and urgent. But it was only because they were pressed for time. "You can have a meltdown after the trail."

There was a tense moment as Emil just looked at Yuri. Then he greeted his teeth as he slowly got up by himself. He then wouldn't look at them. Maybe he was about to cry.

Yuri only said, "Come on then." He then walked out of the cafeteria.

Emil started to follow slowly. "Emil, when we'll get out of here," Sorey tried to reassure him.

"Just shut up," Emil suddenly snapped before picking up the pace.

It had startled Sorey to hear that tone come out of Emil. It did make Sorey realize that if Emil was feeling this way, how where the others feeling? Emil was probably one of the few that would vocally say what they were feeling. How much more stress would the rest of them be able to handle?

/~/~/

Sorey was the last one to reach the pool. Everyone as standing around the side. The floor everyone was around was covered in water. Sorey soon noticed that Asbel was dripping wet and so was Veigue. Very slowly, Sorey started to see who was laying on the ground.

Laying in a puddle of water was Luke. He normally looked ready to complain about anything. But he could smile in excitement like a kid when he was in the dojo learning.

Now there was a look or pain stuck on his face. Sorey wouldn't be able to see a different look on Luke.

"Luke," Sorey said to himself.

"Did he drown?" Kanonno asked as she was choking back sobs.

"I don't think so," Ludger said sadly. "If you look at the water, there's a lot of blood in it."

"Plus there is a giant stab wound in his chest," Yuri pointed out. "You can't see much blood. He must have been in the pool for a while if that was the case. What do you think Jude?" Yuri then asked.

Eyes were on Jude now. But Sorey could tell just by looking at him that Jude wasn't there, Not really. The bags under his eyes were even darker. Sorey wondered if he even realized that another person was dead.

"Hey, hey," Monokuma's voice suddenly shouted as he suddenly appeared. "You can't start investigating without the Monokuma report." The white parts of his fur were red in anger.

"Then just give us the damn report already," Velvet snapped. She almost started looking like her regular self.

"Yeah, I want to get this investigation over with," Yuri added.

Monokuma dropped his head. "Man, sometimes I wish you all weren't such go getters. Here." Their e-handbooks made a sound to let them know they had the report now. "Happy investigating," Monokuma said with less enthusiasm than normal as he walked out.

Nobody said anything and just looked at the report.

 ** _Victim: Luke fon Fabre_**

 ** _CoD: Single stab wound in the heart_**

 ** _Time: 8:08 AM_**

 ** _Location: Pool_**

"It has the time this time," Asbel said in disbelief. "We should be able to figure this out easily right? We just need to account for everyone who wasn't at breakfast."

"That's at least half of us," Yuri pointed out. "Hardly any of us came to breakfast this morning. Including you Asbel."

At that, Asbel looked sheepish.

"Yeah, and Yuri's food was super good," Lloyd commented. "I can't believe you all missed that."

"So should we just go ahead and say where we were this morning?" Ludger asked.

"No time," Yuri said as he looked at Sorey. "That'll be Sorey's job, he's done a pretty good job getting people's alibis so far. The rest of us can focus on finding clues rather than pointing fingers. Sound good to everyone?"

There were no complaints. Sorey was glad that they all felt confident in him to do such an important job.

As they started pairing up, Ludger suddenly said to him," Would you care to pair up with Jude?"

"Sure," Sorey said. Although he was honestly hoping to pair up with Yuri or even Emil, the latter because he was really worried about him. But Yuri's insight would probably be more useful looking for clues. And Emil would probably do well with a new partner. Lloyd was insisting he and Emil partner up. That was good.

"I'm...just really worried about him," Ludger said. "I don't think I've ever seen him like this."

"But you know him better, wouldn't it be better if you were with him?" Sorey asked.

"I'm not the one he needs," Ludger said. "Plus it's still weird for both of us. I know him, but he doesn't know me."

Sorey just nodded. He knew he wasn't the one Jude needed either. But he'd do what he could. _Focus on those you can help_ , Sorey repeated. And it only made him realize that that number was shrinking.

/~/~/

Everyone scattered with their partners. Kanonno and Velvet were starting at the pool area and that was where Sorey would start. But it wasn't by Sorey's choice.

"Sorey, we need your help with something," Velvet had said coldly.

"What is it?" Sorey asked.

"Search Luke's pockets?" Velvet said simply.

"What?" Sorey asked in disbelief. Even Kanonno was shocked.

Velvet just shrugged. "Fine, I just would have thought that Luke would have preferred a guy checking his pockets rather than a girl."

"Ah, Velvet, there is no way you should do that," Kanonno said. She then gave a small bow to Sorey. "Sorey, if you wouldn't mind."

 _Well, it would be better for him to do it._ Sorey thought. Luke wouldn't have like for Velvet to search him. He did look at Jude, who still didn't look like he realized what had happened. He must have search Cress and Kor before.

Sorey knelt down next to Luke and clapped his hands together. _Sorry about this Luke,_ he prayed. When he opened his eyes, Sorey asked, "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Anything," Velvet said nonchalantly. "A note saying he was meeting someone here would be ideal."

Sorey reluctantly nodded and started feeling outside of Luke's pockets. "Nothing," Sorey reported. The even looked at Luke's shirt, there were no pockets there and sorey only saw the stab wound that was on his chest. There was a large red circle around the stab wound from the blood loss.

"Not even his e-handbook?" Velvet asked.

"I would have found that easier than a note," Sorey said.

Velvet cupped her chin as she seemed to consider something. She wasn't going to share her thoughts right now.

"Oh, Sorey," Kanonno suddenly spoke up. "Check his fingernails. Maybe he scratched the guy who killed him."

Sorey started to do what Kanonno suggested and even picked up Luke's bare hand, when Velvet asked, "And what are we going to do with that information?"

Kanonno looked flustered. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just read that in a book that they caught a guy by finding DNA under the victim's fingernails."

"Even if we could figure something like that out, his hands are pretty clean," Sorey said after looking at them. In fact, it was actually pretty weird seeing Luke's hands without his fingerless gloves.

"So that means, he didn't put up much of a struggle," Velvet claimed. "Of course with just that one wound, he wouldn't have lived much after. That also means the blackened took him by surprise with a quick frontal attack."

While it was a bit startling to hear Velvet come up with that, it did make sense. There didn't appear to have been a struggle. Yet that was quite bold of the blackened to attack Luke from the front. It would have been safer and quicker to do it from behind.

What was Sorey thinking? He quickly shook his head of the thought and got up. He would leave Velvet to figure this out. He had a job himself to do.

"Well, I need to I need to ask you all this," Sorey started. "Where were you two this morning at 8?"

They just established that it would have had to happen pretty instantly, so it would have to someone who didn't join breakfast until at least 8:30.

"I was at breakfast," Kanonno answered.

Then she looked at Velvet. She had a cold look. She and Sorey both knew where she was; trying to kill Emil. Sorey planned to keep that quiet until they had to reveal it. Almost everyone was already worried about Velvet and this would only breed distrust.

"I was just walking around," Velvet answered reluctantly. Sorey was glad that was what she chose to say in front of Jude and Kanonno.

"Velvet, you really should start joining us for meals," Kanonno told her plainly. "Everyone could finally get to know you."

Velvet didn't say anything and only crossed her arms. Then she glanced at Sorey. "Shouldn't you be talking with the others about their alibis? There is no telling when time will be up."

"Right," Sorey muttered as he started walking away.

He looked over at Jude and was about to ask where he thought they should go next. But it died on his tongue when he saw that Jude was the same.

 _Luke ended up the pool,_ Sorey started to think. _The only way to get there is through the locker rooms._ And that was the next place they went.

Asbel, Ludger and Stahn were searching inside the locker room. As soon as they walked in, they could hear a disagreement going on.

"What do you mean it doesn't make sense?" Asbel shouted.

"Asbel, I'm just offering up a suggestion," Ludger defended. "We need to work together."

Sorey came into view and saw a frustrated look on Asbel. "Thank goodness you're here Sorey," Stahn said with a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?" Sorey asked.

Ludger gave a tired smile. "We're just having a small disagreement about how this could have happened."

"He was killed in the pool area, the file said so," Asbel stated.

"All I'm saying is that there is some blood by the door to the pool," Ludger told him calmly.

Sorey looked over at the door. In front of it was a mat, probably to catch any water from when someone was coming back from the pool. There was smeared red on it, like it was blood the culprit couldn't wash away in a timely fashion. There was also a mop laying on the ground that had a slight red tint to it. But that didn't mean anything other than the killer tried to clean up.

"That mat could have been anywhere," Asbel said. "It makes more sense for the culprit to kill Luke in the pool. We at least couldn't definitively say if they were a boy or a girl."

"If Luke was killed in the locker room, then it would have been a guy," Sorey realized thinking back on the rules. It would be smarter to make everyone look suspicious not just the guys. If Luke had been killed in the locker rooms, then that meant Velvet didn't do it. But the file did say the location was the pool. So that didn't exclude Velvet despite Sorey knowing that she didn't do it.

"Luke's looker is still open," Stahn suddenly said.

That caught everyone's attention. The one with Luke's name was open just slightly. "Yeah, Luke had been complaining that the lock on it was broken. I think he accidentally broke it," Asbel said.

 _"_ That's fortunet since we can't find his e-handbook," Sorey said.

"What do you mean?" Asbel asked.

"I looked on his person, his e-handbook wasn't in his pockets," Sorey explained.

Ludger opened the door and all of their eyes widen. "What?" Sorey said in disbelief.

Sitting on top of some gym clothes Luke must have used was a short, skinny sword, barely bigger than a knife. And there was blood on it.

"Don't tell me this is the murder weapon," Stahn said.

"But how did this get in here?" Ludger asked. "Monokuma said there weren't any weapons like this."

Sorey then remembered something with Luke. After Senel was executed and they got the new area, Luke and Veigue had been looking for a weapon because Monokuma had said he hid one as a gift. Then in this new area, Luke had asked if there was another weapon. Monokuma answered no since the last one hadn't been used.

"This must have been one of the weapons Monokuma hid in round two," Sorey told them.

"Regardless, I think this proves that a guy would have killed Luke," Ludger said. "I would have had to be a guy to put the murder weapon in Luke's locker."

"Not necessarily," Asbel interrupted as he looked at Sorey. "You said his e-handbook is missing. So couldn't have Velvet have taken and used it scan her way in?" Asbel speculated.

Sorey held his tongue. No point in continuing this. He had his own job to do.

"I'll let you all handle this," Sorey told them. "But I need to ask all you where you were at 8 this morning."

"I was at breakfast," Ludger said first and then pointed at Stahn. "I was on Stahn wake up duty. I didn't get him up until about nine."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Stahn apologized. "I hated that I missed Yuri's cooking."

Sorey was pretty sure that he woke up to hearing Ludger shouting at Stahn.

"What about you Asbel?" Sorey then asked.

Asbel closed his eyes before answering. "I didn't get to breakfast until after 8:30."

Sorey was startled to hear that. "Did you oversleep?" Sorey asked. Although he hadn't known Asbel to do something like that.

Asbel had a sad look on his face as he started to explain. "I had started a training session for the morning before breakfast. Luke joined most of the time...And he was there this morning."

Sorey realized why Asbel looked so distraught. He was the last person to see Luke alive.

"Was Luke acting any different?" Sorey quickly asked.

"No," Asbel answered. "It was like any other time."

"But why was Luke in the pool area?" Ludger asked out loud.

"He liked using the locker room," Asbel said. "Something about making training feel more normal or something."

"Was there anyone else that that was at your training session?" Sorey then asked. The more witness, the better.

"It varies," Asbel started to recall. "This morning, it was just Luke and me...Oh and Veigue," Asbel seemed to just remember. "He was only there for a little bit, he said he didn't feel well."

"What time did he leave?" Sorey made a note that he needed to ask Veigue about this

Asbel took a moment to recall. "Not sure, but I do know it was before the morning announcement played."

That was a lead at least. Sorey really hoped that Veigue was at breakfast. Before he said anything else, Asbel had that same depressed look.

"I should have left with Luke," Asbel muttered.

Sorey's heart hurt for Asbel. He couldn't imagine the guilt. Sorey desperately wished that he had his resonance. There was no doubt that there was malevolence on Asbel. Sorey worried where this would lead if that couldn't be purified. Would Asbel turn into a hellion and no would know?

"Don't think like that," Stahn suddenly said. Sorey had never seen Stahn look so angry, but more or justifiable anger. "The one at fault is the guy who killed Luke. You did nothing wrong Asbel."

Asbel didn't look convinced. He only had a dark look as he said, "The blackened and Monokuma will pay for this."

Sorey wasn't sure which was worse. The guilt or this feeling of revenge Asbel has.

Sorey looked back in Luke's locker and something else caught his eyes. By the murder weapon were the gloves Luke always wore. And there was blood on them.

/~/~/

As concerned Sorey was about Asbel, he had to leave. He still had several people he had to place for this morning.

Next on their list was Yuri and Veigue. Emil and Lloyd were in the cafeteria. Before Sorey and the others actually found the murder weapon, there were some that suspected that someone had used a knife from the kitchen. It'd make sense to go them next so Lloyd and Emil could direct their efforts elsewhere.

But Sorey just had to talk with Veigue. His mind was wondering too much and he wanted to get Veigue's side. He was sure that he heard Yuri say they were going to check in Luke's room.

Sorey looked back to make sure that Jude was still with him.

He was with no change to his state. There were so many problems. _If only I had the power of purification,_ Sorey thought desperately. There must have been some kind of malevolence that shrouded Jude. That must have been what was wrong with him.

As they walked past the cafeteria, they heard something break. Sorey paused. It had just sounded like glass breaking. It wasn't something unusual. But something about the silence that followed it made Sorey listen more closely. There was nothing. No one saying "Oh crap" or anything like that.

Something wasn't right and Sorey had to check. He at least had to make sure everything was okay. He only had to walk through the door to find out what had caused the noise. It had been Lloyd.

For the first blissful second. Sorey really didn't think anything was wrong. Lloyd wore red and black, so it wasn't apparent right away.

"LLOYD!" Sorey shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran to him once he saw blood on the floor.

Hearing him, Lloyd lifted his head weakly. His face was white. " _H~help,"_ Lloyd managed to say.

Sorey reached him, ignoring the blood on the floor. Lloyd had been lying face down. There was a blood smeared from the kitchen to where he was now. He must have dragged himself trying to get some help.

There were no wounds on his back. Sorey helped Lloyd roll over so he could help him better. Sorey wasn't sure what he had been expecting. He hadn't been expecting to see numerous large puncture wounds on Lloyds torso and arms. He could feel how soaked his shirt was.

"HELP," Sorey shouted at the top of his lungs. "Somebody please help." _Please if there are any seraphim, please help Lloyd._ Sorey prayed and continued to shout for help.

"Sorey what's wro-" he suddenly heard Yuri say. But he was cut off when he saw the scene.

Within a second, Yuri was right beside Lloyd and so was Veigue. Yuri took off his belt and Veigue took off an extra article of clothes and they pressed them to Lloyds wounds. Sorey wished he wore his cloak. He'd gladly turn it red to help Lloyd. So he just applied pressure on Lloyd's chest.

"Jude, get your ass over here," Yuri shouted angrily.

Sorey then looked up. Jude was standing by them. He looked bewildered. But he didn't do anything.

"He needs a doctor," Veigue said calmly, but there was urgency in his tone.

"Jude," Yuri snapped.

And when that didn't faze Jude, Yuri quickly got up. In just two steps, Yuri punched Jude right in the side of his face. It knocked Jude off balance and he fell. Sorey would have flinched because of the sound and seeing Jude's check instantly start swelling. "If you're not going to help, then get someone one that will," Yuri said angrily as he turned back to Lloyd.

"Lloyd, who did this to you," Yuri asked in much calm manner.

As Lloyd started getting his words together, Sorey suddenly heard Jude say, "We need more cloth to stop the bleeding. Keep pressure." Sorey was startled to hear Jude sound like a real doctor.

" _I…"_ Lloyd started to say weakly. With what strength he had left, Lloyd lifted his arm and was able to grab Sorey's sleeve. " _I... remember,"_ Lloyd choked out. There were tears forming in his eyes. " _We're not...the ones. Ori...gin's..."_

At that, Sorey felt Lloyd's hand fall. Underneath Sorey's hands, he became aware of how still Lloyd's felt. His eyes were still open. But there was nothing in those eyes.

Before he knew what happened. He heard those dreaded bells.

 _*Ding*Dong*Ding*Dong*_

" _A body has been discovered,"_ Monokuma's voice said over the speaker. " _Please meet in the cafeteria."_

It shut off.

Two of their friends were now dead.

How did this even happen?

And where was Emil?


	14. Chapter 3 Investigation Part 2

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Investigation Part 2

Sorey just stared at Lloyd's lifeless face. It couldn't be true. Surely Monokuma was wrong. There was no way Lloyd was dead.

"Sorey," he heard Yuri say and he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, get up," Yuri said gently. Sorey was the only one that was still next to Lloyd.

He got up, he noticed that most of the others were already here. They probably dropped everything and ran when they heard another body announcement.

"What the hell happened?" Asbel snapped once his eyes fell on Lloyd. "How could the culprit kill someone else?"

"No, Lloyd..." Kanonno said in between sobs that she was trying to fight back.

The others were either angry that this happened or speechless like Sorey. No one else knew what they should do.

It was quickly ruined by horrible laughing. "Looks like the double RIP happened right on time," Monokuma suddenly exclaimed as he popped in.

"You really find this funny," Yuri commented darkly.

Monokuma took a step back. "Hey, come on now. It's not like I did it. I'm just the moderator."

"W-w-what," a new voice exclaimed from the door.

Everyone looked and saw Emil standing in the doorway. He looked so horrified seeing Lloyd's body. Sorey was a bit relieved to see that Emil was okay. He had been a bit worried that something had happened to him too.

"Where the hell were you?" Asbel snapped.

Emil jumped hearing Asbel yell. "I-I," Emil stuttered.

"Just calm down and tells where you were," Jude said calmly. "Why weren't you with Lloyd?"

Emil had his head down. "Th-this happened because I left him…" Emil said. "I...I just went to the bathroom."

"Look, the clock is still ticking on when the trial starts," Monokuma said. "You all should get back to investigating." He even started wobbling away.

"I have a question," Veigue suddenly said. "What if there are two blackens? Does that mean both would get to graduate?" It was hard to believe that the same person could have went out of their way to kill Lloyd when Emil wasn't around. Did someone else think they could get out too if someone else died?

"There can only be one blacken in each round," Monokuma explained. "It's the same idea with accomplices. Only the one that commits the murder can graduate. In this case, whoever commits the first murder is the one we'll have a trial for. So this is still the trial to find who killed Luke."

"What about Lloyd?" Stahn asked. "Will we have a trail for him too?"

Monokuma shrugged. "No. One trial for one murder. And one prize for one murder. That's the rules. So if someone different killed Lloyd, you've wasted a perfectly good murder."

"You mean Lloyd won't get justice?" Sorey asked in disbelief.

The bear shrugged. "Hey, I'm only helping you all. Statistically speaking, the chances of solving the crime decreases as time goes by. We probably won't have time to have two trials today and if we wait, the crime won't be fresh on your mind."

"Are you saying we're just supposed to forget about Lloyd?" Asbel snapped.

"That's pretty much what I'm saying," Monokuma admitted. "But before you all get your underwear in a bunch, this is all under the assumption that they have different killers." Then Monokuma's face went dark. "Maybe one of you decided that one victim wasn't enough."

Everyone was silent. They had all thought of that possibility. Sorey wasn't sure which was worse. Someone feeling they needed to kill both Luke and Lloyd, or two people that decided to kill someone on the same day. Sorey worried that the malevance was spreading. That could easily explain why this happened. There was no point to Lloyd also being killed.

"Anyway," Monokuma interpreted in a disturbing cheerful tone. "I give you Lloyd's Monokuma file just in case it's the same culprit."

There was a ding sound from all their pockets. Sorey took out his e-handbook and saw the new Monokuma file on the screen. This is real, Sorey thought bitterly as he felt a prickling sensation in his eyes.

It read...

Victim: Lloyd Irving

CoD: Multiple Stab Wounds

Time: 11:45AM

Location: Cafeteria

"If this is the same culprit, they're at a considerable disadvantage," Yuri muttered.

"Yuri, how can you say something like that," Asbel exclaimed. He practically threw his e-handbook to the ground.

"Look. I'm only saying this for the benefit of the trial," Yuri explained calmly. "If one person killed both Luke and Lloyd, they've just left twice the amount of clues."

"But finding out what happened to Luke is the priority," Velvet said. "Kanonno, we've still got more things to look into."

"A...alright," Kanonno muttered as she followed after her.

"I can't believe her," Asbel said with gritted teeth.

"It's hard to say this, but," Ludger started. "Velvet has a point."

"But…" Asbel tried to argue.

"It's cruel, but we need to be sure we survive this next trial," Ludger said with a sad expression.

"We'll still look into Lloyd in case it is the same person," Yuri offered. "Half of us will continue looking for clues from Lukes case and the other half for Lloyd."

Asbel offered no objections to that compromise.

Yuri then looked at Sorey. "I think it would best for you and Jude to investigate Lloyd for now. But Sorey, you should go get changed first," Yuri said.

"Huh?" Sorey was confused why Yuri told him that. But when a few of the others motioned for Sorey to take a look at himself, Sorey saw blood all over him. Lloyd's blood.

/~/~/

Sorey quickly returned to his room and changed clothes. He threw away the ones he had been wearing. He didn't even want to see them again.

He returned to the cafeteria and still jumped when he saw Lloyd dead on the ground. Next to him was Jude taking a closer at Lloyd's wounds. Standing just a little ways was Asbel and Stahn.

Ludger had volunteerd to team up with Emil and search for more into Luke's murder. It seemed Emil was uncomfortable looking into Lloyd's. It was understandable. Emil left Lloyd for just a little bit and Lloyd was probably dead because of that.

"Good, your back," Asbel said. He had said it in a way that made it sound like he was mad. "Stahn and I are going to look for the murder weapon now." The two of them went back into the kitchen area.

"What was that about?" Sorey asked.

"Yuri made them watch me while we waited for you," Jude said. "Asbel wasn't too thrilled with wasting time like that. You and I alibi each other out for Lloyd's. But just to make absolutely certain that the others can believe my testimony at the trial." Just then, Jude's face dropped and he looked like he had that morning for a moment. "I do have some making up to do after what I've done."

"Jude, no one can blame you for helping Milla," Sorey told him.

"I know," Jude said almost looking like he did this morning. "I don't regret trying to protect Milla. I'd probably be worse off if I hadn't at least tried to help her. I'm going to do what Milla couldn't. So to do that we need to survive this trial."

Sorey nodded. "Very well," he replied so they could get right to work. But before they could, Sorey bowed his head toward Lloyd's body. "I'm sorry Lloyd. We will find out who did this and get out of here." We'll stop Monokuma.

"I'm ashamed that it took Lloyd dying to get me back to my senses," Jude commented as he did the same thing.

"I'm sure Lloyd is glad you're back," Sorey told him.

"Right," Jude said as he stood up. "Anyway, the Monokuma file was right. Lloyd has several stab wounds on his chest. I was able to count elven without moving his clothes. Stahn even helped me turn Lloyd over. There wasn't a single wound on his back."

So Lloyd saw the culprit attack him. And the culprit looked right at Lloyd while he tried to kill him, Sorey thought grimly.

"Based on the size of them," Jude continued, "I can say with certainty it was with a kitchen knife. Plus one of the cutting knives is missing in the kitchen."

"You all already checked the kitchen?" Sorey asked. He didn't think he had been gone for that long.

"The kitchen was where Lloyd was first attacked," Jude began. He pointed toward the kitchen door. Sorey saw there was blood on the floor from the kitchen to where Lloyd was now. He must have dragged himself out into the cafeteria looking for help. "Where the blood starts, there's a table where the cutting knives were sitting."

"And one of them is missing?" Sorey guessed.

Jude nodded. Sorey didn't want to understand why someone would murder in the first place. But it was strange that Lloyd would have been attacked more than Luke had.

"What's even stranger is that it's clear that the murder weapen is different," Jude went on to explain. "The stab wound on Luke is smaller according to the Monokuma file."

"So there are two murder weapns," Sorey summed up. Luke had a single stab wound from the small knife they had found in his locker. It was much smaller than a kitchen knife. So whoever used it knew how to use it to kill Luke with one hit. Lloyd on the other hand had a larger weapon and the culprit didn't even kill Lloyd right away. Was that intentional? And if that was the same culprit, why?

Just then, they heard Asbel shout, "We found it."

Both Jude and Sorey hurried to kitchen. They didn't have to venture far. Almost by the door, Stahn and Asbel were knelt down by a table. They saw Asbel pull a cutting knife from under it. There was blood on it. Asbel quickly put it on the floor.

Sorey then noticed that the table the knife was under was the same that had the cutting knives set sat. And the blood didn't go any further in the kitchen. He imagined that Lloyd was standing there and whoever killed him was right in front of him. They then just grabbed the knife and attacked Lloyd right there. Then the culprit must have dropped the knife and it ended up under the table.

Jude confirmed as much by saying, "So Lloyd was attacked here and the culprit didn't even bother trying to hide the weapon."

"They probably didn't care," Asbel said darkly. "Even if we know who killed Lloyd, it won't matter if we can't connect them to Luke."

"Are you trying to say that whoever did this knew about the rule Monokuma told us about?" Stahn asked.

"It's possible," Asbel said. "He told Milla about the "Only one graduate" rule and didn't tell the rest of us. It's clear Monokuma bends his own rules."

"I absolutely do not," Monokuma suddenly said, coming out of nowhere. "How would this be a fair game if I bend the rules on a whim?"

"You're really going to tell us any of this is fair?" Asbel snapped.

"None of us asked for this," Jude told the bear.

But Monokuma just tilted his head. "But didn't you?" He asked. "Someone would have for this game to have started."

Someone asked for this? Sorey thought feeling sick to his stomach. The whole group had barely entertained the idea of there being some kind of mastermind. Yuri had even commented that he was sure that Monokuma wasn't the one in charge. "He's taking orders from someone else. He's clearly not the type." But the alternative was that one of them was working with Monokuma.

"But Mila asked me that question," Monokuma went on to explain. "If anyone else asked me, I would have told you. When it comes to rules, I'm as fair as can be. This is a mystery game after all. It's all about solving the mystery."

No one said anything and Sorey was still thinking about the possibility of a mastermind behind all of this.

"Well, I'll leave you all to this," Monokuma told them. "You don't have much time left before I call for a trial."

"What?" Stahn exclaimed. "But we just started looking into Lloyd's."

"Yeah, but you've been looking into Luke's since this morning," Monokuma told them. "That's plenty of time. Plus I'm getting bored."

"You need to get give us more time?" Asbel pleaded. "We have to have time to figure out what happened to Lloyd and bring the culprit to justice."

The bear started fuming with frustration. "You all are starting to sound like broken records," he snapped with his paws in the air. "I'm telling you it doesn't matter. If you can't figure out who killed Luke then all of you will face the punishment."

Asbel looked like he was going to attack Monokuma. But if he did that, then he would have violated one of the rules. Sorey didn't want to see another friend die. Thankfully, Stahn was quick enough to hold Asbel back.

Monokuma seemed to take a breath to calm himself, completely ignoring that fact Asbel wanted to kick him. "Listen hot heads, statistically speaking, at this part of the game when there is a double rip, there's normally only one culprit that's responsible. Man, that would be awkward if there were actually two culprits. Imagine what breakfast would be like in the morning if one of the culprits gets away with murder scotfree? I think I would pay to see that."

"Do you plan on wasting more of our time?" Jude suddenly asked.

"Well I-" Monokuma started to say.

But Jude interrupted. "You said we didn't have much time left. So leave so we can get back to investigating." Sorey was pretty surprised by the sharpness in Jude's voice. But he was right. At this point Monokuma was just wasting their time.

Sorey felt no pity when he saw that Monokuma looked hurt by Jude. "I can't believe I got scolded by the honor student," he muttered as he slowly started to waddle away.

"What the hell Jude?" Asbel snapped, finally freeing himself from Stahn.

"We have to play by the rules if we want to survive," Jude said sternly. Sorey wondered if this tone came from when he had to deal with difficult patients. "Honestly there isn't much more we can investigate into Lloyd's murder."

"But-" Asbel started to protest.

Jude held up his hands. "What I mean to say is that it's pretty cut and dry. There isn't some mystery to how Lloyd was killed. He and the culprit were in the kitchen, the culprit grabbed one of the knives and stabbed Lloyd multiple times. They threw the knife down and ran out."

"Leaving Lloyd to die," Sorey finished. But that was strange. Why wouldn't they had just finished Lloyd off. Wouldn't that had risked Lloyd telling them who attacked him?

"All that is left to do it to figure out who wasn't with their partner when Lloyd was attacked," Jude told them.

They all understood that. Everyone but the culprit would have a strong alibi since they all paired up.

"Stahn, Ludger, and I pretty much all stayed together," Asbel reported and Stahn nodded.

"Are you sure?" Sorey asked. "You all were in a group of three. It would be understandable if one of you slipped out." He wasn't doubting them. They just needed to deal in certainty.

"We stayed in the same room the whole time," Asbel answered.

"Plus we were in the locker rooms," Stahn started to say. "If one of us did slip out to kill Lloyd, it would have taken some time, right? If one of us was gone that long, I think we would have noticed."

"Good point," Sorey muttered. He felt pretty confident that Stahn, Asbel, and Ludger could be crossed off the suspect list. And of course Sorey could cross Jude off the list too. He may have been out of it the whole time, Sorey had made sure not to lose track of his partner. The only ones that could have slipped away from their partners to go to the kitchen and return in a time fashion at that time would have been Yuri and Veigue. He hoped that the two of them had a strong alibi for one another.

Then Sorey remembered there was one more strong suspect.

Emil!

He hadn't even been with Lloyd. He said he went to the bathroom. That easily could have been a lie. Yet Emil had looked just as startled at seeing Lloyd dead like the rest of them. Sorey just couldn't picture Emil just brutally killing Lloyd. For lack of a better term, Emil was a bit of a wimp. There was just no way it could have been Emil.

/~/~/

Because they didn't know how much longer they had till Monokuma announced the trial, Jude and Sorey practically ran to the swimming pool. They needed to get the other's alibi's.

As soon as they entered the pool area, they were with the rest of the other groups watching as Yuri was climbing out of the pool.

Yuri looked up as they entered. "You two just got here in time," Yuri called out.

"What do you mean?" Sorey asked. He also wanted to ask why Yuri had been in the pool.

"Velvet found Luke's e-handbook," Kanonno announced. Velvet made no comment or even looked like she cared if she got credit for finding it.

"Turns out an asshole had thrown it in the pool in the deep end," Yuri complained as he handed the device to Ludger.

"So how did you end up being the one that retrieved it?" Sorey asked.

"We drew lots," Yuri answered.

"And Yuri has terrible luck apparently," Ludger commented.

"D-don't you think it's possible that the e-handbook just slid out of Luke's pocket?" Emil hesitantly asked.

"Not impossible," Yuri said. "But not likely. Luke was in the shallow while this was in the deep end."

"It's like the culprit wanted to get rid of it and it was a rush idea," Jude speculated.

"If they really wanted to hide it, the culprit should have just hidden it in their locker," Velvet said plainly. "We wouldn't have hid to time to search through every locker."

"But if we did then that would have lead us straight to them," Yuri commented. "It'd be too risky to keep any of Luke's things. Even if Luke had let you "borrow" something."

"What would be the purpose of trying to hide Luke's e-handbook?" Emil asked.

Before Sorey could offer up anything, the announcement bell sounded. "I think you've discovered all there is to discover," Monokuma's voice rang out. "I'm ready for this trail to get started. No dilly-dallying now."

They didn't get any time at all to even investigate Lloyd's murder. But something else was odd about the way Monokuma said it. You've discovered all there is to discover...Was that really true? And if it was, then that meant Jude was right about the way Lloyd was killed. Why would the culprit kill Lloyd? There didn't seem to be any plan. It just seemed to happen out of nowhere.

"Damn," Yuri muttered. "I'm heading back to my room to get some dry clothes on. You all go on to the elevator."

"Don't take too long," Kanonno said. "You don't want to get punished for being late."

"You all just worry about surviving the trial," Yuri said. But he did quickly run out of the pool area.

The rest of them weren't far behind. The third trial had begun.


	15. Class Trail 3

Hey everyone. Please be safe and take this health crisis seriously if you live in an area that is affected. Hang in there and we will defeat this together.  
AND WASH YOUR HANDS!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Class Trial 3

 _Come on Yuri,_ Sorey thought nervously. There was no talking going on and Sorey couldn't hardly stand still. The elevator doors were open but no one was in it. It was surprising that Monokuma didn't show up to tell them to hurry into the elevator. What would happen if Yuri didn't show up in time?

"We should just go ahead," Velvet suddenly announced. "The bear is likely to penalize us if we're late."

"But Yuri will be if we don't wait for him," Kanonno tried to reason.

"We're not leaving anyone," Jude said plainly.

"It's not like Yuri could go anywhere," Stahn commented.

They lost Luke and Lloyd. Sorey knew it was foolish to think something happened to Yuri. They were all here.

Thankfully they could hear a set of running feet toward them. The doors opened and it was Yuri. Sorey breathed a sigh of relief.

"Took you long enough," Velvet commented as she was the first one in the elevator.

"Sorry, couldn't decide what to wear for the trial," Yuri said in his usual manner. It actually took Sorey a moment to realize that he was joking because of the way he said it.

But no one laughed as they walked into the elevator.

Sorey and Yuri were the last ones. "What were you really doing?" Sorey asked him.

"Let's just worry about getting through the trial," Yuri said and walked past Sorey without so much as another look.

It didn't sit well with Sorey. But Yuri was right. They needed to get through this trial.

Sorey stepped into the elevator and the second he was in, the doors closed behind him.

And down they went.

/~/~/

"Let's get this heart pounding trail underway," Monokuma announced with tons of excitement in his voice as everyone stood in their place. "It's time to figure out who killed Luke fon Fabra."

"You really mean to say Lloyd's death doesn't matter?" Asbel demanded. His fists were clenched in frustration.

"Pretty much," Monokuma said plainly.

"How could you-," Asbel started to say angrily.

"Calm down," Veigue stated in his normal tone. It caught all of their attention.

"There is a possibility that the same person killed both Luke and Lloyd," Sorey offered so they could all get on the same page.

"Are you suggesting we work backwards?" Yuri started to ask. "Start with Lloyd?"

"Well Lloyd's murder was sloppy compared to Luke's," Jude summed up. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to look at it that way."

"What's the point?" Velvet snapped. "All that matters is that we figure out who killed Luke. That's the only one that matters so we can survive." Her cold demeanor wasn't as shocking anymore.

"Are you saying that because you're the-" Stahn began to ask innocently

"If you say I'm the culprit…" Velvet started to threaten.

"Sorry, I guess Luke's habit rubbed off," Stahn replied sheepishly.

"That's just not fair," Kanonno began to cry. "Lloyd's dead and there was no point to it. Why did he have to die?"

"Kanonno," Sorey muttered. His heart ached seeing her like this.

"I think we owe it to Lloyd to figure out what happened to him," Yuri then offered. "Regardless, we at least need to know if there's two killers or just the one culprit."

"It might be helpful to at least compare the two to determine if there is only one culprit," Ludger offered.

"Then we'll start with Lloyd's death," Veigue said.

"Fine, do what you want," Monokuma commented as he tilted his head.

"Whatever," Velvet muttered.

"So we know Lloyd was stabbed in the kitchen during our investigation," Sorey began.

"The monokuma file states Lloyd died at 11:45," Jude began. "Based on his wounds and blood loss, I'd guess that he was stabbed no more than ten minutes before that."

"Emil, you said that you went to the bathroom at that time, right?" Ludger recalled.

"T-that's right," Emil muttered.

"You were in the bathroom for over ten minutes?" Stahn asked.

"Well, umm...yes," Emil answered. "I went to my room. I just needed some space."

"You needed space?" Yuri questioned.

"Y-yeah," Emil began to say. "After this morning, I just needed a moment to myself. That's all."

Sorey wondered if he was also referring to Velvet trying to kill him. He was really shaken up and then seeing Luke. But there was just something about it.

"I guess that could be possible," Yuri started to say. "Your room's one of the farther ones. So that would make sense. But that's not an alibi."

"I...I know," Emil stuttered. "That's what happened though."

"Sorey, Jude, the two of you gathered everyone's alibi," Yuri said casually. "Who is it that has the weakest one?"

Sorey thought back to earlier that day. They were all busy investigating in groups. Velvet was with Kanonno where in the pool area; Yuri was with Veigue looking in Luke's room; Asbel,Stahn, and Ludger were in the locker room; and Jude was with Sorey the whole time. Yuri and Veigue are the only two that were close enough to sneak from their partner to attack Lloyd and be back before the other realized.

But that was very far-fetched. Yuri and Veigue were very sure that they stayed together. And Sorey was absolutely sure Jude was with him the whole time. Not to mention, Jude had told Sorey that based on the way Lloyd was attacked, the attacker would have been covered in blood too. So they would have also had to clean up and possibly change clothes. And the one with the weakest alibi already admitted to going to their room.

Sorey looked at Emil. He didn't want to believe it. There was no way Emil could be capable of killing. But that could be said about all of them. He worked with Emil in the last investigation.

The only thing that gave Sorey the strength to say what he was going to was that it would help find out the truth about Lloyd.

"Emil, you're the only one that could have done it," Sorey said sadly. "Everyone else have solid alibis." Emil practically jumped out of his skin and was shaking his head.

"That' right, you avoided Lloyd whenever he was near," Asbel pointed out.

"N-no," Emil stuttered horribly. "I didn't like Lloyd, t-that's true. B-b-but I couldn't have. I wasn't there."

"Even this morning, you left the cafeteria when Lloyd entered even though you barely had any breakfast," Ludger recalled.

"Emil, why?" Kanonno said as she started to sob.

"P-please," Emil pleaded. "I wasn't there, I couldn't have done it."

"Lloyd wanted to help everyone," Asbel snapped and slammed his hands on the podium. "He didn't deserve to die like that. Tell me, what did he do to deserve that?"

"I-I…" Emil struggled to say with tears flowing from his eyes.

"Monokuma made it clear that only one person could graduate with one killing," Veigue began to say. "So Lloyd's death was completely pointless for you."

"I don't want to think of Lloyd's death that way," Asbel snapped. "But it was. He didn't need to die. Why? He was so concerned for you. He even paired up with you to make sure you were okay."

Emil was shaking. It was clear he killed Lloyd. But there was just something about him. Emil seemed to be telling the truth. And then the strange thing he said, " _I wasn't there_." Sorey thought that was a strange way of defending himself.

"Look, I don't care," Velvet said bluntly. "But we're not going to get anywhere until you tell us why. Why would you kill Lloyd when a murder already happened?"

"Lloyd killed my parents!" Emil suddenly snapped in a much deeper tone. But he was different. Sorey had never seen Emil's deminer like this, like he was ready to physically fight someone. He was also so angry. And his eyes were red to match his anger. "That bastard deserved to die like they did."

"Lloyd...he killed…" Sorey muttered. He just couldn't believe it. The same Lloyd that he spent all that time with.

"Wow, what a record breaker," Monokuma explained. "I've never seen the murderer found this quick."

"In my world, everyone called him Lloyd the Great. They thought he was a hero," Emil went on angrily. "But he's nothing but a monster. He destroyed my home."

"I have a lot of questions," Jude quickly recovered. "But first off, what just happened to you? You're...different."

Emil had an angry scowl. But it was Monokuma that spoke. "I'll explain. See in the world Emil's from, he formed a pact with, let's just call it a spirit. Because Emil was such a weakling, the spirit known as Ratatosk gave him strength and another personality. Some people call this other personality Ratatosk Mode."

"So, Emil has two personalitiles?" Ludger asked.

"Basically," Monokuma replied.

"So does that mean, Emil actually didn't kill Lloyd?" Kanonno hesitantly asked.

"Semantics," Monokuma commented.

"So Emil," Velvet began, "you only killed Lloyd out of revenge? Not because of this game or the motive?"

"If I came out sooner, I would have killed him then," Emil answered darkly.

"You're clearly not the same Emil," Yuri said. "I'm not comfortable calling you the same name, so is it fine we just call you Ratatosk? Ratatosk mode isn't a name."

"Do whatever you want," Emil said with a shrug.

"What do you mean if you came out sooner?" Sorey asked.

Emil held up his arm that had the Monokuma bracelet on. "This stupid thing kept me sealed. When this weakling gets into a fight or a situation he can't handle, that's when I come out. I'm aware of everything he does, but he doesn't know what I do. His stress finally snapped when we were alone with that bastard Lloyd. I couldn't stand looking at him anymore.

"Of course I don't have access to any of my powers still," Em-Ratatosk went on to explain. Then he directed his angry scowl toward Monokuma. "The second I get them back, you'll be my neck target."

"I-I'm not scared," Monokuma said with a slight stutter. But Sorey really couldn't tell if Monokuma was kidding or not.

"I'm sorry about your parents," Sorey began. "But are you absolutely sure it was Lloyd? He doesn't seem like he'd ever do something like that."

"You're right," Ratatosk admitted. "I couldn't believe it either. But he did look a little younger. And we've already discussed how it's possible that some of us come from different times. That Lloyd must have just started his journey that would earn him the name Lloyd the Great. I just stopped a monster before he became that."

"I have had enough of this," Asbel suddenly said. He was shaking with anger. He looked at Monokuma and said. "I'm ready to vote for the blacken."

"Hold it," Jude snapped before Monokuma even had a chance to say anything. "He killed Lloyd, but what about Luke?

"Of course he did," Asbel said. "He had to." If he wasn't, then that meant Lloyd wouldn't get justice.

"Well Ratatosk has been pretty forthcoming," Stahn said. "So did you kill Luke too?"

"Which one was Luke?" Ratatosk asked. He looked like he didn't know and didn't care to know.

"The first victim," Monokuma said.

"The bratty one with long red hair," Velvet then said.

"Velvet," Kanonno said, sounding startled.

"Oh," Ratatosk said with some recognition. "Thank god. He was really starting to get on my nerves with his ceaseless whining. I almost came out just to beat the crap out of him."

"Quit lying," Asbel said. "You mean keep lying after you've already admitted to killing one of our friends."

"Why the hell would I lie about that?" Ratatosk asked.

"You're really trying to suggest that there were two murderers," Veigue claimed.

 _That is the case though,_ Sorey realized. Emil couldn't have killed Luke. There was one person that gave Emil an alibi for Luke's murder.

"Luke was killed at 8:08, right?" Sorey asked everyone.

"Yeah, that's what the Monokuma File says," Stahn answered.

"Then Emil couldn't have done it," Sorey stated.

"He left the cafeteria just a little bit after 8, the second Lloyd walked in," Asbel rebuked. "That would have been plenty of time."

"True," Sorey admitted. "But someone can vouch for Emil at that time. Right Velvet?" Sorey was hoping not to bring this up. But this cleared Emil, or maybe more accurately Ratatosk, from killing Luke. And they could find the real blacken.

Those that hadn't learned about the events this morning were startled. Even Kanonno, "Velvet," she said sounding startled.

"Yeah, I was trying to kill Emil this morning," Velvet said without batting an eye. "It was closer to nine maybe."

"But what made you decide to go after Emil?" Sorey asked.

"Because he was alone," Velvet answered. "I saw Emil leave the cafeteria and he went straight to his room. He was there for awhile before he came back out. I waited, figuring he'd be the best target. He went back to the cafeteria. That's when I attacked him."

"Yeah, I almost came out then if those two hadn't intervened," Ratatosk said, gesturing at Sorey and Yuri. Emil was likely going back to the cafeteria to eat if he left breakfast before eating.

"So Velvet alibis Emil for Luke's death," Stahn commented.

"And if Velvet watched outside Emil's door, then we know that's where Emil was when Luke was killed," Jude pointed out.

Asbel didn't say anything. But it was clear he was angry. He wouldn't look at Emil or even any of them really.

"So now we just figure out where everyone else was at about 8 this morning," Ludger suggested. "It was my turn to make breakfast. I think everyone was there for about thirty minutes. I saw Kanonno, Yuri, and Emil. Then Lloyd came a little later."

"Did any of you idiots consider that maybe Lloyd killed Luke?" Ratatosk asked.

"You lost all right to blame others," Asbel exclaimed. He looked like he really could have fought Ratatosk at that moment if there wasn't space between them.

"Look idiot, I don't want to die with the rest of you," Ratatosk rebuked.

"So you decided to kill Lloyd knowing you were safe from the trial?"

"Bastard, I would have killed him regardless."

"Both of you stop it," Yuri snapped and it was enough to shut both of them up. "We need to narrow down everyone that could possibly have killed Luke. And that might mean looking at Lloyd. He had a window of opportunity."

"There's no question when Luke died," Jude explained. "I think it's safe to say that the culprit either walked into the locker room with Luke, or the other way around, and he was killed then. The culprit then threw his body in the pool and cleaned up a bit. Let's say they get done around 8:30."

"So let's look at someone who doesn't have an alibi for the time between 8 and 8:30," Yuri suggested.

"Crap, I didn't wake up until after that," Stahn moaned.

"S-same," Sorey admitted.

"Sorey, don't tell me you're picking up on Stahn's bad habit," Kanonno light scolded.

 _Man, first Yuri scolds me about locking my door and now Kanonno._

"Well bastard," Ratatosk said, aiming it at Asbel. "You know where this wimp was at that time."

Asbel narrowed his eyes at Ratatosk. But he gave an answer. "I was training with Luke and Veigue this morning. I ended up staying close to nine. Luke left right at 8, saying he wanted breakfast."

 _And Luke went to the locker room to clean up most likely for breakfast._

"Veigue, what time did you leave the training?" Velvet asked.

"Sadly I didn't stay long," Veigue admitted. "I wasn't feeling well, so I left."

"Where did you go?" Velvet asked another.

"Back to my room," Veigue answered simply.

Velvet was looking at him plainly. But Sorey couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"I know you left before the morning announcement," Asbel added.

"Yeah, but I honestly can't remember what time that was," Veigue said. "I didn't leave my room until I heard the body discovery announcement."

"Well you must have gone somewhere," Velvet then added. "Because I saw you entering your room close to 9."

It was subtle, but even Sorey was able to notice that Veigue was startled. His eyes were wide (at least as wide as they could be for him) for just a brief moment.

Yuri didn't give him a chance to respond. "Your room is right next to Emil's, right before the corridor turns." Yuri was even holding up a piece of paper that had a diagram of their rooms that it looked like he hastily drew.

"I heard you coming down the hall," Velvet began. "I was hiding right around the corner."

Veigue was the same stoic self as he responded. "I didn't think it was worth mentioning since no one saw me. But I did go to the school store to get some food."

"That's odd that you'd go there rather than the cafeteria," Yuri speculated. "Especially since people were coming in and out of the cafeteria. Stahn was even helping me with the dishes until a little past nine."

"Yeah, I've had to wash dishes every morning," Stahn complained.

"I just figured it'd be all gone by then," Veigue explained.

Stahn, Asbel and even Sorey himself also didn't have alibis. However there was something about Veigue. He didn't speak much, but when he did, it always mattered. So for him to speak like this now, was strange.

"Are you sure you didn't stop by the locker room?" Sorey asked.

"I said I didn't," Veigue replied normally. "Are you suggesting I'm the prime subject?"

"I just think you might be more likely since you were already in that area," Sorey began. "If I or even Stahn left our rooms that early, we might run into someone getting ready for breakfast. And no one saw us."

"Then Asbel is also just as suspicious," Veigue rebuked.

"I would never," Asbel exclaimed.

"Geez, you're starting to be as obnoxious as that Luke guy" Ratatosk muttered.

Before Asbel could reply, Veigue went on to say, "But have any of you considered that Luke may have done that to himself."

"You mean, Luke killed himself?" Ludger questioned.

"Monokuma, if that's true, would Luke be the blacken?" Velvet quickly asked.

"That's right," Monokuma answered. "Killing yourself can still be considered murder. So if that's the case, then you would vote Luke the blacken."

"If you look at the wound, it is where a warrior would stab to end their own life," Veigue explained. "We all know how desperate Luke was to leave. He probably couldn't handle this game any more."

There was silence as they all took this in. Sorey thought of his time with Luke. He was rude, a brat even, but Sorey couldn't deny he had spirit. Luke wanted to live. As much as he was scared, Luke made the most out of this place. There was no way Luke would do that to himself.

"But we found the murder weapon in his locker and he ended up in the pool," Asbel defended. "That doesn't add up."

"There was no blood on that weapon," Veigue pointed out. "Yuri, you looked in the pool, can you say you checked the pool thoroughly to say there wasn't a murder weapon?"

Yuri frowned knowing he couldn't definitely say yes.

"I guess that explains why there was blood on his gloves," Stahn commented.

 _Wait a minute..._ Sorey thought. "Then how did they end up in the locker? "Sorey demanded.

That caught Veigue off guard again. He wasn't able to compose himself as quickly as before.

"You put them there, didn't you Veigue," Sorey guessed, but he was almost certain he was right. "You killed Luke and put his gloves and the murder weapon in his locker hoping we wouldn't find it."

"But you didn't realize that Luke's locker didn't lock," Asbel said in realization

Veigue closed his eyes before saying, "I guess I've lost."

"Is that a confession?" Monokuma asked. "If you all are ready, vote in your e-handbooks."

One by one they voted and Monokuma gave a sinister laugh. "Let's see if you picked the right one or the dreadfully wrong one? I can't way to see."

The screen lowered and Veigue's face appeared on the screen. He received all the votes. Then the words "Congratulations" appeared at the bottom of the screen and the same confetti fell again.

"Man, you guys are really getting good at this," Monokuma commented.

"Why Veigue?" Asbel began.

"For the motive, right?" Velvet said.

Veigue had his eyes closed still. But he nodded. "I needed to go back and make things right."

"What happened to make you go this low?" Jude asked.

This time Veigue looked at them, "A few years ago, I gain the power called force and was able to control ice with it."

"You can control ice," Sorey said, being startled by it. It made him wonder if anyone else was hiding their abilities. Veigue was right up there with Milla in terms of power.

"But I couldn't control it," Veigue went on and this was the most Veigue had ever spoken before. "I ended up freezing my childhood friend. After a few years, some travelers were able to free her, but as soon as she was free, the army took her. I was on my way to save her before being brought here."

"Did you want to go back and save her?" Yuri asked.

"Yes, but from myself," Veigue answered. "I wanted to keep her away from me when my powers came."

"Veigue…" Kanonno started to say as she started to cry.

"About Luke," Veigue changed the subject. "I did find the weapon Monokuma placed after the first trail. I first thought about just keeping it to make sure no one else would use it by keeping it in my locker. But then this motive. I was in the locker room contemplating it, then Luke walked in."

"And he saw you with the weapon," Yuri finished for him. "Knowing him, he wouldn't have kept quiet about it." Sorey could only imagine Luke's reaction.

Veigue only nodded.

"Alright, alright, let's move on to the main event," Monokuma interrupted.

"Hold on," Ludger tried to say.

"It's okay," Veigue said. "This is what I deserve." He took a few steps forward, but he looked back and was looking at Sorey. "Sorey, I wished we could have met before. I think I would have easily put my trust in you."

Sorey quickly nodded and he was fighting back the tears. "I wish that too."

"Now, I've prepared a very special punishment for the Hero of Rebirth, Veigue Lungberg," Monokuma then announced with a chuckle. "IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" The same button raised in front of Monokuma and he pulled out a hammer to hit it with.

/~/~/

 _Veigue was sitting in almost a meditative state in an empty room._

 _Monokuma was against the wall turning a dial. The room was slowly getting colder by the way they could see Veigue's breath. It didn't bother him though._

 _Monokuma looked a bit frustrated. So he pushed a button and a large bucket of water fell on Veigue._

 _The temperature dropped below freezing and ice started forming in the room where water had been and even a little bit on Veigue. He stayed meditating, but he was shaking now and he was getting paler._

 _Monokuma pushed another button and this time fans appeared. They started blowing strong winds and ice shards at Veigue, even managing to cut him some. The temperature kept drooping_

 _The wind picked up more and they couldn't see Veigue anymore._

 _Finally Monokuma shut everything off. Veigue was still in the same position. But he was frozen solid._

 _Monokuma waddled over and pulled out a hammer and ice pick. He struck the hammer against the pick and the ice that held Veigue shattered to millions of pieces._

/~/~/

The screen turned off and they were left with that image of Veigue.

There were some that were crying. Sorey was just squeezing his eyes shut to get rid of all the images. He was sick of this.

"I don't see why you all are crying," Emil said, no, he was still Ratatosk. "He killed your precious Luke, so why are you crying over him."

"Because Veigue was our friend too," Ludger explained. "He didn't kill maliciously like you."

"If only you knew what Lloyd was really like," Ratatosk complained.

"Oh by the way," Monokuma suddenly said. "I think it's time I give you all a spoiler. Lloyd actually didn't kill your parents."

That greatly startled Ratatosk. "But I saw-"

"That was only someone who was pretending to be Lloyd," Monokuma explained. "In you future, the bad guys were trying to get people to turn on Lloyd by pending a bunch of crimes on him. Man, those bad guys would want to shake your hand for getting rid of their main problem." Monokuma started laughing.

Ratatosk suddenly got uneasy on his feet. "There's no way. Lloyd he...I saw him attack…" Ratatosk's head dropped before he suddenly seemed to jump.

His shoulders dropped and he started frantically looking around. His eyes were green again. "Wh-what happened?" Emil asked. He clearly didn't know what just happen. He didn't see Veigue die right in front of them.

"You should have been the one that died, not Luke or Lloyd, or even Veigue," Asbel snapped. Then he stormed off.

/~/~/

 _Chapter 3: You Think You Know Thee, Thus You Fail: End_

 _Contestants Remaining: 9_


End file.
